Team Ryū
by airwatcher
Summary: In all of Konoha's history, there have been many ANBU teams. However, among them, only one has risen above the others. Only one. This is their story. The story of how three of Konoha's genin went from being normal and tolerated to incredible and needed. This is the story of Team Ryū. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

I don't own Naruto. Thanks to MechenManachewagan's story Team San'en for inspiration for this story

|Konoha: 13 years after the Kyuubi attack|

It has been thirteen years since the attack of the Kyuubi. Thirteen years since the village was robbed of the Yondaime Hokage, the greatest Hokage since the Shodaime. Thirteen years since Sarutobi Hiruzen was reinstated as Hokage. Thirteen years since Naruto Uzumaki became the Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi. It has been 5 years since Jiraiya of the Sannin returned Tsunade Senju and Shizune to Konoha. And it has been six months since the Hokage created a trial run of a genin ANBU team consisting of Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno, and Naruto Uzumaki.

_Flashback_

"_And team seven will be Sakura Haruno, Sasuke Uchiha, and Naruto Uzumaki," said Iruka, the sensei. Sasuke Uchiha, who wore a ninjato on his back along with the standard Uchiha wear nodded in understanding. Naruto was wearing a black shirt with a red Uzumaki spiral as well as ANBU style pants and sandals. Naruto, who was holding onto a Nodachi, which was the only thing that the Hokage had given that, had belonged to his parents, nodded, not seeing a need to jump up in joy, despite the fact that he was on the same team as his crush, Sakura Haruno. Sakura Haruno, who wore a blue pants, and a pink t-shirt with circles where the shoulders were and another circle on the stomach also contained her joy. "Team Seven, report to the Hokage's Office for your meeting with your sensei. Everyone was surprised, but gave it no thought as Naruto and his teammates walked through the doorway to the Hokage's office. When they got there, they saw three men standing beside the Hokage. One was wearing samurai armor, and carried a Nodachi on his back. The white haired man with a ponytail was Jiraiya of the Sannin. The other man who had spiky hair and a mask was Kakashi Hatake. _

"_Jii-san," greeted Naruto._

"_Naruto!" exclaimed Sakura as she lightly swatted Naruto in the back of his head._

"_It is alright, Sakura. Now, you three must be wondering why I have called you here." All three genin nodded. "Well, to be blunt, you are being admitted into the ANBU."_

"_What?" yelled Sakura, "We're not ready for that yet."_

"_I agree. You will be undergoing a high intensity training program with Kakashi, Jiraiya and the Personal Guard of the Daimyo and accomplished samurai, Musashi Miyamoto. You will be taken to the area where he trains after you are initiated into the ANBU. For three months, he will train you. Then you will return to be trained by Jiraiya and Kakashi. Make no mistake, you will be ANBU, and you will act like proper Shinobi. Sasuke, this means no focusing solely on killing your brother. We will kill him, rest assured, but your duty is to the village first and foremost. Sakura, this means no abusing Naruto and Naruto no constantly asking her out. You must also be silent and patient. Understood?"_

"_Yes, Hokage-sama," said all three genin._

"_Good. Now step forward." Hiruzen made a cross seal, forming two shadow clones. One shadow clone stepped towards Sakura's right arm; the other shadow clone went to Sasuke's left arm. Hiruzen, himself, stepped towards Naruto's left arm and began applying the tattoo. Then he handed three masks to them, each having a bunch of seals written upon it. "You are now ANBU, one of the elite. And in the ANBU, we have our own nindo. Blood freely given, so others may live. This is your code, your life, and your existence. You live by that code from this day onwards. Now, I have another gift. Fuin!" The seals on the masks that the genin had just put on glowed red, before returning to black. "And now, all of you can't speak. You must learn to communicate by ANBU sign language. Now take these bags and go grab your belongings, and take off your masks." The three left, after taking off their masks and putting it on their belt. _

_|Sakura's House|_

_Sakura arrived at her house, grabbing articles of clothing, some scrolls on Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu, as well as some personal belongings. She glanced at the picture of her family. It was a picture of her parents, her, and her brother when they were little. Unfortunately, both her brother and father had contracted an incurable disease, which killed them off. She finished up gathering what belongings she wished to bring with her. As she was leaving, she heard her mom speak from behind her._

"_Come back to me." Sakura turned around to look at her mom. "I know that you are now ANBU. That is the only reason you would be leaving already. Just please, come back to me, my baby. I wouldn't know what to do without you." _

"_I'll come back, I promise," said Sakura, hugging her mom. "You won't lose me." Sakura's mom tightened her grip around Sakura. "I've got to go now," said Sakura, extracting herself from the arms of her mother, and walking towards Hokage tower._

_|Sasuke's House|_

_Sasuke entered his room, and started grabbing the necessary article, some kunai, shruiken, ninja wire, and explosion tags. He looked to the picture of his mom and father, before kneeling down on his knees in a prayer like fashion._

"_Hi Kaa-san, Tou-san, I've been admitted into the ANBU. I got teamed up with Naruto Uzumaki and Sakura Haruno. I guess it could have been worse. At least they can use some techniques. Sakura can use C, and even some B rank Genjutsu techniques. Naruto can use wind, fire, and water jutsus from D all the way up to B. Hokage-sama is using us as a trial run, to see if there is a possibility for some genin to be trained as ANBU from the start. I've got to be going now, so later, Tou-san, Kaa-san." Sasuke picked up his bag, pulled it over his shoulder, grabbed his ninjato and headed out towards Hokage Tower_

_|Naruto's apartment|_

_Naruto entered his house and looked around at the mess where he lived. Slowly he walked toward his room, picking up the articles of clothing that he would need, along with his survival supplies, and his spare weapons, as a lot of his weapons he already had with him in his ninja pouch. After he was done, he grabbed a cup of ramen, heated it up, and wolfed it down. _

"_Kaa-san, Tou-san, wherever you are, whoever you are, I just wanted to let you know that I got into the ANBU today. Yeah, a rookie genin like me got admitted into the ANBU on his first day. So wherever you are, wish me luck. Thanks." Naruto picked up his stuff and headed towards Hokage Tower. When he got there, everyone was there waiting for him. Sarutobi was there waiting, holding out some armor._

"_Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, when you put this armor on, you are not just fighting for yourselves, you are fighting for Konoha. Remember that," said Sarutobi as he handed the armor to each of them. "Now go, and keep your masks on. You are now ANBU and Musashi will take care of you for now."_

_End Flashback_

It had been three months since Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura entered into his tutelage. While Sasuke only learned the way of the sword from him, Naruto also learned Taijutsu. He adopted the Taijutsu of a samurai, which he mixed with his ability to use Shadow Clones, making his Taijutsu very dangerous. Both Sasuke and Naruto learned to use four types of weapons, a Nodachi, a ninjato, and a Katana with a Wakizashi. While Naruto and Sasuke preferred using a Nodachi and a Ninjato respectively, they were very proficient in using the other two as well. Sakura, however, learned something completely different. While she did learn some samurai style Taijutsu, she mostly learned the art of Healing. Sakura had taken on being the backup and healer role, while Naruto and Sasuke were assault part of the team, making them a perfect first response team. The three had also bonded as a team. None of the team had any crushes now, not that Sasuke ever did, and the three acted like family.

"Naruto!" signed Sakura.

"Yeah?" replied Naruto through sign language as he packed up his supplies.

"Did you remember that scroll from Musashi-sensei?" asked Sakura.

"Yep," said Naruto, slinging his bag on his shoulder and picking up his Nodachi. "Now let's go to Musashi-sensei's tent. We have a meeting with him. The three ANBU headed towards the tent, which their sensei resided. In the tent, they saw their sensei, along with Kakashi and Jiraiya. When they entered, they bowed deep.

"Raise your heads," commanded Musashi. The three stood tall, looking at their sensei right in the eye. "Good. You three show great promise. While normally I would gift you with sword or uniform, you three have no need of that. Instead, I will give you this." Musashi snapped his fingers. A servant came forward with a black lacquered box. Musashi opened it and took out a shoulder plate, upon which there was a rising sun engraved onto it, along with the following words written in kanji surrounding the image: courage, loyalty, rectitude, respect, honesty, honor, and bushido. "This shoulder plate is one that has my family crest engraved on it, and with the seals provided by Jiraiya, it will never wear, or break. And should you ever need assistance, if you see a samurai outpost that is loyal to the Fire Daimyo, they will give you shelter as best as they can." Suddenly, Jiraiya made a seal, allowing the three to take off their masks. Naruto took of his mask and attached it to his belt as he received his shoulder plate.

"Musashi-sensei, I cannot express my gratitude for all the training and for this gift that you have given us."

"It is not necessary. I like to think that I have made my investment in the future generation. Now go, and train with your ninja sensei." The three bowed again, before walking off with Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"Now, you three," said Kakashi, "When we get back to Konoha, we will be testing your abilities, but not immediately. When we get back, you are give the day off after you move into ANBU HQ. And there is to be no sparring then either. Understood?"

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei," said Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke.

"And, you are no longer required to keep the seals active. Just channel chakra into the mask, and the seals will be disabled. Understood?" The three nodded. "Good, now let's get back to Konoha." The group of five vanished in a burst of speed, and headed back to Konoha. After about a day and a half of travelling, the five got back to the village, at around lunchtime. The three dropped their belongings in the rooms assigned to them at ANBU HQ. The three also left their masks there.

"So," said Sakura, "Where do you want to have lunch?"

"Let's go to BBQ. I heard from Choji that it was really good when we were still in the academy."

"Alright," said Sasuke, smiling, "then let's go." The three headed towards the BBQ restaurant. As the three walked, they heard a loud screech of, "Sasuke-kun!"

"Please, not her," muttered Sasuke. But it was not to be, as Ino Yamanaka jumped onto Sasuke's back.

"Sasuke-kun, where were you? We've missed you." Naruto coughed. "Yes, Naruto, what is it?"

"Not to interrupt, but our team just got back from a long mission, and we were going to eat. If you want, you can come with us, but please stop harassing Sasuke so that he can regain his energy. Our mission was very hard."

"Sorry, Naruto," said Ino. "Sorry Sasuke." Meanwhile, Choji and Shikamaru looked at the changes within Naruto. They could tell something was amiss as all three of them were wearing their headbands on their arm. Sasuke and Naruto on their left, while Sakura wore her headband on her right arm.

"Well, we're going to BBQ. You guys can come, so long as one of you pays for your bill. I don't have enough money to cover Choji." Ino glared at Choji until he said, "I'll pay for the entire meal."

"Thanks Choji," said Naruto with a smile. The six of them headed towards the BBQ restaurant. As they sat down, Ino started launching questions.

"So who's your sensei? Where have you guys been for the past months? What have you guys been doing?"

"Slow down," said Sakura. "Our sensei is Kakashi Hatake. As for where we have been, well, we have been at a rigorous training camp for the past three months, while doing some missions on the side." And it was true. While they were training with Musashi-sensei, the three had done some C and B ranked missions, sending the confirmation of their success to the Hokage, via transportation seal.

"Really? What kind of missions?" asked Ino.

"Just your usual D-rank missions," said Naruto offhandedly, "There are always people that need help in some menial task, so we would help them, get paid, and send some of it back to Konoha through Kakashi-sensei's dog summons."

"I see," said Ino. Soon their food arrived and everyone dug in, Naruto and Sasuke especially. They actually ate more than Choji did, and that's saying something.

"So," said Sakura, "Are any of the other teams off today?"

"Yeah. We're meeting up with Team 8 for a spar later on today. You guys want to come and participate?" asked Choji.

"We can come, but we can't participate," said Sasuke. "Sensei ordered us to do no sparring. If we do…" Sasuke shuddered at the thought of disobeying Kakashi. He had promised that if they disobeyed, he would make them run through their samurai workout, while adding 100 kg to the weights they wore.

"Too bad," said Choji, "Kiba wanted to fight you and prove that Naruto is still a dope."

"Hey, I am not a dope," retorted Naruto, as the six of them walked to training ground 8, the place where they all were going to be meeting up.

"Well, look what we have here," said Kiba, looking at Naruto. "The dope has finally decided to grace us with his presence. Now, let's fight!"

"Sorry, but I can't fight. Sensei's orders."

"So you'd rather listen to your sensei than fight?" asked Kiba.

"Yep. Fighting you isn't worth getting punished by sensei," said Naruto.

"It can't be that bad, can it?" asked Kiba, looking at Naruto.

"You're right. It's worse than you can ever imagine." Naruto pulled up the legs on his pants, to reveal some weights. "Here, hold this," said Naruto, passing it to Kiba. As soon as Naruto let go of the weight, Kiba fell to the ground.

"What the hell?" asked Kiba. "How heavy is this damn thing?"

"Only about 700 kilograms," replied Sasuke offhandedly. "And Naruto's weights are the heaviest out of the entire team."

"Wait," said Ino, "Forehead, does that mean you're wearing weights as well."

"Yep," said Sakura, making a peace sign, "I'm wearing 400 kilograms per limb and 600 kilograms on my waist."

"I wear 600 kilograms on each limb, and 800 kilograms on my waist," intoned Sasuke.

"And I wear 700 kilograms on each limb and 900 kilograms on my waist," finished Naruto. The rest of the genin were floored. 'How could anyone wear that much weight?' thought every single genin.

"And we're not the only ones to do this," said Sasuke, surprising everyone. "Rock Lee, one of the graduates from last year also wears weights. He wears as much as Naruto does." Everyone was floored. Another guy was wearing the same amount of weights as Naruto?

"So," said Naruto, "Are we going to get to see any fights?"

"Yeah," said Sasuke. "I want to know if any of you are worthy of fighting me."

"Don't worry," said Kiba. "We will. Choji, you ready?" Choji leaped forward, slamming his fists together, signifying he was ready for battle. "Then let's get this party started." Kiba rushed at Choji, throwing a punch at Choji's face. Choji ducked and yelled, "Partial Expansion Jutsu!" His fist enlarged, and then he slammed it into Kiba's side, sending him flying. Kiba landed on a tree trunk, and using chakra jumped at Choji, yelling, "Fang over fang!" Kiba became a miniature tornado, and struck Choji in the chest. However, as Choji, fell, he kicked Kiba in the face with an expanded foot, sending both of them into the ground. While they were watching, Naruto noticed a bird with the kanji for ANBU engraved on a ring that was on its leg.

"We've got to go," whispered Naruto to Sasuke. "Get Sakura. I'll meet you at the Hokage's Office." Naruto formed a ram seal and disappeared using the body flicker jutsu.

"Where'd Naruto go?" asked Choji when he got up. Kiba too looked at where Naruto was and saw nobody. He glanced over to where Sasuke was and saw him whispering to Sakura. Sakura nodded and the two formed a ram seal and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell?" shouted Ino. "What kind of technique is that?"

"That, Ino," said Shikamaru, "Is the Body Flicker Jutsu. But I wasn't aware that Naruto and his team could use it. Supposedly, it's only taught when one becomes a Chūnin. So why were they taught it?"

|Hokage's Office|

"Hokage-sama," said Naruto as he appeared in the Hokage's office along with Sakura and Sasuke in ANBU gear, their masks on.

"Welcome. I apologize for calling you on your day off, but your instructors wish to start as soon as possible. So you will start your training this afternoon. Now, as you know, you three will be trained by one shinobi each. Naruto, Sasuke, you already know your instructors. Naruto, Jiraiya will be your teacher, while Sasuke, Kakashi will be teaching you."

"And what about Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"Sakura will be taught by me," said a voice from behind them. The entire team turned to see Tsunade and Shizune standing right behind them. "According to my information, Sakura is your medic-nin, so who best to teach her than me and Shizune?"

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," said Sakura, bowing low in Tsunade's direction.

"Thank you, baa-san," said Naruto.

"You are welcome, Naruto, Sakura," replied Tsunade. The three turned their attention back to Sarutobi.

"Good. Now, you three will be in training with them for two months instead of the original three. Reason being, you will be going on missions to prepare yourselves after the training."

"Prepare for what, Hokage-sama?" asked Sakura.

"For the Chūnin exams of course," said Sarutobi.

"We're taking the Chūnin exams?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. You will be going undercover and infiltrating the exam. We fear that Orochimaru is planning to attack the village. And with Sasuke having the Sharingan, Orochimaru will be sure to take the bait."

"So we're luring him in, then cutting off his head, correct," said Sasuke.

"Indeed. Now I do believe that you guys have some training to get to, don't you?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama!" said the three, standing up.

"Then go. Dismissed," said Sarutobi, picking up a piece of paper to read over. The three left the room with their respective sensei. Sasuke followed Kakashi to a peculiar training ground.

"Welcome, Sasuke," said Kakashi, "To the training ground of the Hatake clan. We will be focusing on your Ninjutsu. As of right now, your skill in it is almost abysmal. The only jutsu you know is the fire style: great fireball jutsu. And that's not even your elemental nature affinity."

"So then, why are we at the grounds of the Hatake clan?" asked Sasuke.

"Because," said Kakashi, "Here, I can pound you into the ground without fear of any other Konoha shinobi finding out. Now, let's test your affinity." Kakashi reached into his ninja pouch and took out a small slip of paper, and then handed it to Sasuke. "Channel your chakra through this."

"Hah," said Sasuke as he channeled his chakra. As he did so, the paper wrinkled up, and then set on fire.

"So you have a main affinity to lightning, and a partial affinity to fire. That's good," murmured Kakashi. "Alright," said Kakashi as he grabbed a light bulb from his ninja pouch. "I want you to make this light up with your lightning chakra for at least a minute. Until you do that, I can't teach you anything." Sasuke stared at the light bulb, then grinned.

"Then I'll do it in no time. Sasuke Uchiha never fails!" Sasuke grabbed the light blub and concentrated on it, feeling the flow of chakra. He also made sure that the nature of the chakra was 'staticy' and 'electric'. The chakra surged through the light blub, and lit it up for a few seconds, before it blew out.

"Try refining the chakra a little," commented Kakashi as he read his book. "It'll be easier to channel and make the chakra into true lightning chakra. You are almost there in creating the lightning chakra." Sasuke closed his eyes again, forming the lightning chakra within him.

|With Sakura|  
As Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune left the office, Tsunade started her lecture.

"Girl, you have a lot of potential. You are excellent at using the samurai way of healing and the mystical palm jutsu. With my training we will increase your ability in that area. You will also learn to be a medic-nin. Now let's hurry up to the training field. We'll be using my clan training field." Sakura, Tsunade, and Shizune arrived at the training field that they would be using.

"Alright," said Tsunade. "Right now we're going to be practicing on your dodging." Tsunade took out a scroll and opened it up and unsealed the objects. Within the scroll there were at least 100 beach balls that were already blown up to their maximum size. "And I will be throwing these at you. You can only dodge. As a medic-nin, you need to know how to dodge without being hit. Now, are you ready?"

"Yes, sensei," said Sakura. As soon as she said that, Tsunade had already chucked a ball at Sakura, who dropped to her knees to dodge the ball. She was then forced to roll over to continue to dodge. And then, just as the ball was about to hit her in the head, Sakura jumped up, over the ball and back onto the ground, where she swerved to dodge another ball.

"Come on Sakura," said Tsunade, "You need to keep the pace up. You can't slow down for an instant!"

"Yes sensei," said Sakura as she upped her pace. Sakura started jumping at the last second, rolling, ducking, and bending backwards to dodge the speeding balls. Just as bent back to dodge a ball, when she came back up, she was hit in the face, sending her flying into the ground.

"Sakura, you can't always use the same techniques to dodge. You've done that at least three times in a row now," scolded Tsunade. "You have to be agile, nimble, and quick minded. You have to think on your feet. Again."

|With Naruto|  
Jiraiya took Naruto to the ANBU training grounds reserved for the team.

"Alright, Naruto, before we begin, I wish to know. Will you be willing to become the next Summoner of the Toads? Before you answer this, you must be aware of all that this entails."

"What do you mean, Sensei?" asked Naruto.

"If you are serious about becoming the Summoner of the Toads, then you must be aware that if there are any enemies of the Toads, then you are their enemy as well and vice versa. Additionally, you as the Toad Sage, you answer directly to the Hokage and no one else. Are we understood?"

"Yes, sensei. We are understood. I swear to uphold everything that it means to be the Toad Sage and the Summoner of the Toads," declared Naruto, taking the scroll from Jiraiya's outstretched hands. He bit his thumb to get some blood then signed his name in blood.

"Good," said Jiraiya, "Now summon a toad." Naruto nodded and closed his eyes, preparing to do the jutsu. Then he went through the seals. Boar, dog, bird, ram. Naruto slammed his hand on the ground as he intoned, "Summoning Jutsu!" A huge toad appeared below Naruto, as a huge plume of smoke appeared.

"Who is this?" asked the greenish blue toad that appeared below Naruto.

"Ah, Gamahiro," said Jiraiya. "We have a new summoner. Meet Naruto Uzumaki." Naruto leaped off of Gamahiro and landed in front of him.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Gamahiro."

"It is nice to meet you as well, Naruto-kun. I will inform Gamabunta and the elders of this new summoner. You may call upon me whenever you need to," said Gamahiro, as he disappeared.

"Good. You have that mastered. Now, we will work on Taijutsu. I believe you took up the Taijutsu of the samurai. Let's see what you can do," said Jiraiya as he got into a fighting stance. The two charged at each other, fists colliding, elbows blocking, knees countering, kicks flying.

|Konoha: two months later|

It has been two months since Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Kakashi took the three aspiring ANBU into their ranks. In that time, Naruto was able to combine his Taijutsu style with the Taijutsu style of the Toads, Toad Sage Fist. In addition to that, he was also able to gain a better mastery over his three chakra natures: water, fire, and wind. And despite the difficulty, he was able to combine fire and wind as well as water and wind. The first combination just gave Naruto much more dangerous fire style attacks. The second combination gave Naruto an Ice kekkai genkai, which hadn't been seen since Team 8 and 10 faced the last of the Ice Style users during mission in Wave Country. Finally, he had learned the signature jutsu of the Yondaime Hokage, the Rasengan. Sakura had learned the art of ninja healing from Tsunade and Shizune, as well as the use of poisons. In addition to that, she had started learning the secrets of Tsunade's super strength. And finally, she had become the next Slug summoner. Her personal summon was named Dokuwohaku, or spitting poison for the fearsome ability that she had. She was named this because no matter how much poison she spat, she could always spit more. Sasuke had also grown. He had learned to manipulate lightning nature chakra, and had even learned the signature move of Kakashi, the Chidori. He has also learned many C-A rank lightning and fire jutsu, making him the perfect teammate for Naruto. His summon, though was not one that Kakashi used. It was the wolf summon, which Kakashi had found many years ago while he was still an ANBU.

"Rise," said Sarutobi. The three aspiring ANBU stood up. "Hand me your masks." The three took off their blank masks and passed it on to Sarutobi. Sarutobi put them in a pile on his desk. Reaching under his desk, he pulled out three new masks and three white cloaks. He passed the first mask to Sakura, who stood to the left, which had the image of a pink dragon with sakura leaves as scales. "You will be known as Iyashi (Healing)." He moved onto Naruto, who stood in the middle. He handed Naruto a mask that had a dragon with white, blue, red, and grey scales. "You will be known as Heiwa (Peace)." Finally, he moved onto Sasuke, who stood at the right. "You will be known as Hakai (Destruction)." The three ANBU put on their true ANBU masks for the first time.

"You three will be known as Team Ryū," stated Jiraiya. "Now go and travel. Accumulate experience. Become a true team!" Iyashi, Heiwa, and Hakai nodded. They swept up their cloaks, which had been specially tailored to them. On Iyashi's cloak, it had the words Iyashi and Namekuji (Slug) written in kanji. On Heiwa's cloak, it had Heiwa and Gama (Toad) written in kanji. On Hakai's cloak, it had the words Hakai and Ōkami (Wolf) written in Kanji. The three then headed out the door into the unknown.

**A/N**

**So yeah. Here is the first chapter. I hope you all like it.**


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own Naruto. Thanks to MechenManachewagan's story Team San'en for inspiration for this story

**A/N: Darkryus, Naruto is Heiwa (peace), because of Jiraiya teaching him the philosophy of peace. **

|Konoha: One Month later, 4:00 P.M., one day before the Chūnin exams|

It had been a month since Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke had gone out into the world to travel for a month. Together the three made a name for themselves as the new sages of Konoha. The new Gama-Sennin, Heiwa. The Ōkami-Sennin, Hakai. The Namekuji-Sennin, Iyashi. The three became infamous in Kumo within a week, killing a missing-nin from Kumo and disappearing without Kumo even realizing they were within the borders of Kumo. Next, they hunted down the missing-nin, Aoi and took back the sword of the Nidaime Hokage. Next, they had singled handedly taken out the dictatorship who had been ruling the star village, who had been forcing all of its ninja to go through painful training that would eventually kill them, saving the entire village. This action got them the notice of the different Kage of the Great Nations. The Raikage, Tsuchikage, Kazekage, and Mizukage issued a capture reward of about 250 million Ryo as a team. As individuals, Heiwa has a bounty of 90 million Ryo. Heiwa was also ranked as an A-class shinobi and was to be approached with caution. Hakai has the same amount and the same ranking and warning. Iyashi has a bounty of about 70 million Ryo. However, despite Iyashi having an A-class rank, she didn't have the caution warning. The three ANBU landed on the Yondaime Hokage's head, their cloaks billowing in the wind.

"Shouldn't we head to the Hokage's office?" asked Hakai.

"Probably," replied Heiwa. "But I want to enjoy this moment for a little bit. Reminds of that poem, doesn't it? You know, I really think it fits our job."

"Only you," replied Iyashi. "But let's go. Come on, Captain. We have a job to do."

"Yare, yare. Fine, let's go," replied Heiwa. The three ANBU disappeared, reappearing in the Hokage's office. In the office, were all their ninja sensei, as well as the two elders.

"Rise, ANBU." Heiwa and his team rose from their kneeling position. "It seems that the three of you have been very busy since I sent you off. You three have become some of my best ANBU. Congratulations. I believe that you are ready for your first A-rank mission. For this mission, you will not need your masks, your cloaks, or your armor. You will be wearing standard ninja wear that you will buy at the Shinobi store."

"Yes, sir," said Heiwa, the ANBU in the middle. The three reached up to their faces and removed their masks. When Koharu and Homura saw who they were, they blanched.

"Sarutobi, you made these three ANBU? What were you thinking?" asked Koharu.

"That's Hokage-sama to you, Koharu. And, as for what I am doing, I am running a little experiment, and I have to say the results are wonderful. Now, I do believe that it is time to brief them on their current mission."

"Right," said Homura. He walked forward, towards the ANBU. "As you know, the Chūnin exams are coming up. You three will be dispatched as regular genin under the command of Kakashi Hatake. In the first exam, you will not need any assistance. In the second exam, you are to first do whatever is needed to pass the exam. Then, the three of you will split up. Naruto, you are to oversee the Suna team that is made of Gaara, Temari, and Kankuro. All three of them are children of the Kazekage, and through Jiraiya, we have found that Suna may be attacking us. Sakura, you are to watch over the Konoha team, Kabuto Yakushi, Yoroi Akadō, and Misumi Tsurugi. These three are suspected of being in league with Orochimaru, and are to report back anything you find. Sasuke, you will watch over the Oto team, which has connection to Orochimaru. You are not to let yourselves be seen, and should Orochimaru appear, send up a flare, and call regular ANBU in, as well as your team. Sakura, Naruto, if the flare goes up, you are to abandon your missions, understood?"

"Yes, sir," said Naruto.

"Good. Now, go back and get some normal ninja gear. You are allowed to use your ninjato and Nodachi, Sasuke, Naruto. But in the prelims and final matches, you three can only use 1% of your true skill, understood?"

"Yes, sir," said the team.

"Then let operation: sever the snake head!" The three vanishes, using body flicker jutsu to get back to each of their homes. The three got out of their armor and ANBU clothing and put on their old ninja sandals. However, Naruto and Sasuke kept their shoulder pad that they got from Musashi. The three then put on some shorts and a t-shirt, before going to the closest ninja store, which was Hirugashi Weapon Dealers.

"Hello?" said a girl in Chinese clothing at the cash register. "Is there anything I can help you three with?"

"Nah," replied Naruto. "We're just here to get replacement clothes. We tore the last of our ninja clothes in a training session today."

"Okay. Well, if you need any help, just holler," said the girl, as she went back to reading the scroll on swordsmanship. Soon, they had all gotten new ninja gear. Naruto came out wearing a pair of black pants with red stripes. He also wore a t-shirt that had the Uzumaki spiral on the back as well as his headband on his left arm. Sakura came out wearing the same style of pants, just blue and for girls. She, however, was wearing a red shirt with a white circle on the shoulders and on the small of her back. Sasuke came out wearing the same style of pants as Naruto, just in blue. His shirt black, with high collars, extended down to his elbows. The three got seven pairs of each set of clothing, and took it to the cash register. As they were paying, Naruto noticed the scroll.

"Are you learning how to use a katana?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah. What's it to you?" replied Tenten, snidely.

"No need to get rude. I was just wondering if you had a sparring partner for practice," replied Naruto.

"Well, no. But not many people use the katana."

"Well, I use a Nodachi, which is similar to the katana. If you want, I can spar with you."

"Would you really?" asked Tenten, in awe.

"Sure. I can spar with you whenever I am not on missions. How about I meet with you later today at training field seven for a spar. Let's say, thirty minutes."

"Sure," said Tenten, as she accepted the money from each of them for their clothes.

"Well, then I'll see you then," said Naruto as he and his friends left the store.

"That kid will be good for you," said a voice. Tenten turned to see her father standing behind her in his blacksmith apron.

"Huh? Why?"

"Did you see that shoulder pad the kid was wearing?" asked her father.

"Yeah, what about it?" asked Tenten.

"That was the mark of the Miyamoto clan. The only Miyamoto that comes to mind is Musashi Miyamoto, the commander of the guard of the Fire Daimyo. That means that if he trained that boy, and gave him his family crest, then he must be gifted and well trained in the use of the sword. Remember that."

"Yes, father," said Tenten. Meanwhile, Naruto was running home. As soon as he got home, he increased the resistance seals that he had started using a few weeks after Jiraiya started training him from level three to level nine. 'Don't want to show off too much,' thought Naruto.

|30 Minutes later|

Naruto was resting against a tree, a Senbon in his mouth with his Nodachi laying across his chest when Tenten arrived.

"So you're here," said Naruto, as he spat the Senbon into a tree. "Are you ready?" asked Naruto as he drew the Nodachi form his sheath, while still holding the sheath in his hand.

"Yes," replied Tenten, summoning a katana from her scroll. "I am ready. Are you?"

"You bet I am," said Naruto, as he allowed Tenten to charge at him. He sidestepped, spun around and hit her in the neck with the flat of the blade. Tenten stumbled down, before turning to deliver a slash, which was deftly blocked. As her arm with the blade went up, Naruto hit Tenten in the stomach with the butt of his Nodachi.

"Damn," muttered Tenten as she got up after being hit down. She got back into the basic stance. "This ends now!" She charged and delivered a horizontal slash, which was blocked, and followed up with a vertical slash. Tenten backed up, and dodging a slash from Naruto, who had put his sheath on his back.

"Now," said Naruto, "Are you done playing around, or is this the best that you can do?"

"Like hell, this is the best I can do," yelled Tenten, running at Naruto. She thrust her blade at Naruto, trying to stab him in the stomach, when hit her hand to the side with the flat of her blade, and disarming her at the same time.

"You would be dead if I was an enemy. I could have killed you at least three times during this spar. Now, if you want I can help you with your training of the katana. While I prefer to use a Nodachi, I am quite proficient with the Katana."

"Thank you," replied Tenten.

"Now then," said Naruto, "Follow me and try to copy my kata…"

|Next Day|

As Naruto and his team walked to the Academy, Sakura started to tease Naruto. Naruto was wearing the same pants and sandals, but this time he was wearing a long-sleeve version of the shirt he bought yesterday. The same could be said about Sakura and Sasuke.

"So Naruto, what did you and that girl from yesterday do?"

"It was just a spar," said Naruto, rolling his eyes. Get your mind out of the gutter. You really shouldn't have taken up reading those romance novels."

"What? A girl's got to do something to keep herself from going insane with all the missions we take. Besides, it's a lot better than reading Icha Icha like you do."

"Well, at least I'm quiet about it and don't try to get laid and act out scenes from the books like Jiraiya does," retorted Naruto.

"Sure," replied Sakura. Naruto shook his head and walked to the second floor, where there was a commotion going on.

"The exam is on the third floor, right?" asked Naruto. Sasuke nodded. "Then let's quietly go upstairs. This'll eliminate some of the competition and leave. This is after all, the second floor." The three discreetly left to go upstairs. From near the center of the commotion, Tenten noticed them leaving.

"Guys, let's go," said Tenten.

"Good choice, missy," said one of the Chūnin blocking the door. The three headed upstairs while everyone tried to get past the two Chūnin. When they got up there, they saw that Naruto and his team had already entered through the doorway. When they got in, Tenten saw Naruto and his team reuniting with some old friends.

"Sakura," said Ino, "What are you doing here? I thought you were on a mission."

"I was. I just got back yesterday," said Sakura, being loud on purpose.

"Naruto, I hope you're ready to lose. Kurenai-sensei has upped our training so that we can beat you. I won't lose to you," said Kiba.

"I hope you're ready to eat those words," said Naruto. Suddenly, a white haired Konoha ninja walked over to them.

"You know, you guys should really quiet down," said Kabuto. The three looked at the other shinobi who were glaring at them. Naruto glared back.

"Listen up you fools," shouted Naruto. "I am Naruto Uzumaki, and I don't back down from a challenge. I'll beat you all senseless!" Sasuke and Sakura grinned on the inside. 'Everything is going according to plan.' On the outside, they both smacked their foreheads.

"So," said Kiba. "How many times have you taken this exam?"

"Seven. This exam is really difficult. I hope you guys are ready," said Kabuto.

"Can you give us any information?" asked Shino.

"Sure. Who do you want?" asked Kabuto.

"Rock Lee of Konoha. Gaara of Suna. Naruto of Konoha," said Kiba. Kabuto pulled out three cards from his deck of cards that he revealed, which had information.

"Naruto Uzumaki. No known relatives. Missions: 30 D-rank, 2 C-rank missions. Abilities: Average Taijutsu, good Ninjutsu, subpar Genjutsu, and some skill with a sword. Gaara. Son of the Kazekage and has two older siblings. Missions: 10 d-rank, 8 c-rank, and 5 b-rank missions, and 2 a-rank missions. And he has never gotten a scratch. Rock Lee. No known relatives. Missions: 100 d-rank, 20 c-rank missions. Abilities: excellent Taijutsu, no Ninjutsu or Genjutsu to speak of," replied Kabuto. Everyone was flabbergasted at Gaara's abilities. No scratches ever?

"So it is true," murmured Naruto. "Kabuto-san, what can you tell us about the other villages?"

"Well," said Kabuto, "There are many participants from well known parts such as Ame, Suna, Taki, and Kusa, but there is one team from a new country called Oto. At the moment they aren't that strong, so I wouldn't worry about them." A few seconds later, Kabuto was thrown back and there was a half mummy standing in his place.

"Weak, huh?" asked the mummy.

"Quiet down, and listen up!" yelled a voice that came from the cloud of smoke that just appeared in the room. Naruto and his team looked at the proctor, and recognized him as Ibiki, the head of the Torture and Interrogation force. "You all were given a number when you entered the room. Find your seat and sit down." Naruto and his team, who each had a slug hidden in their sleeves walked to their different seats, which were very far apart. Naruto got seated next to Hinata and blonde girl from Kumo.

"Naruto-kun," whispered Hinata, pushing her fingers together.

"Huh? Did you say something?" asked Naruto, despite hearing her.

"No," whispered Hinata. Naruto just shrugged and turned to look at his test. Naruto raised his sleeve to his mouth.

"Sakura, as you write, whisper you answers into your sleeve with your slug in it," said Naruto.

"Sakura says yes," said the slug in his sleeve.

"Good. Keep me posted."

"Alright, genin, you all have a test. There are three rules. One, you each start off with 10 points, with a total of thirty points per team. The test contains ten questions, each worth a point. For every question right, you keep a point. The pass or fail decision will be determine by the total amount of points your team has. Also, for every time you cheat or do something of the like, you lose two points. The proctors will determine whether you cheated," said Ibiki, motioning to the proctors. "Also, if any one of your team gets a zero, the entire team automatically fails. You will have 45 minutes until the tenth question is revealed. Begin!" All around Naruto, people started scratching at the paper with their pencil, righting down the answers to the questions.

|45 minutes later|

"Tenth question will now be asked," declared Ibiki. "But before I begin, there is something that you must know." Ibiki closed his eyes, before opening them with a steeled look. "Should you fail, you can never become a Chūnin or take the Chūnin exams again. Do all of you still wish to take the final question?"

"I'm sorry, I quit," said a genin behind Naruto.

"Number 50 fails. Numbers 100 and 121 also fail," said one of the proctors. More genin started quitting until there were only fifty-one genin left.

"You all," growled Ibiki, "pass!" Every genin, except Naruto and his team were flabbergasted.

"What?" shouted Temari. "How the hell do we pass? What happened to the fourth question?"

"Because you all had the courage to never give up. Listen, when you are in enemy territory, and you have critical information, you must have the will to endure the interrogation and not sell out your comrades. That is the lesson that I bestow upon you," replied Ibiki, before a ball of cloth crashed into the room before expanding. In front of them was a purple haired shinobi, whose clothing was most likely indecent. The sign read, 'Second Examiner, Anko Mirarashi is here!'

"You're early, again," growled Ibiki from behind.

"My bad. Wow, you did good this time. Fifty-one, huh? Well, meet me at the forest of death in ten minutes. If you're late, then you fail!" Anko burned the cloth with a small fire jutsu before jumping out the window again.

"Come on guys," said Naruto, getting up. "If we're not there, she will fail us. Let's go." Naruto went to the window, which he jumped out of, with Sasuke and Sakura following closely behind. The three landed in front of the gates of the Forest of Death, only to see Anko napping.

"Well," said Sasuke, "Since we have time, how are we going to distinguish ourselves?"

"I've got an idea," said Naruto, taking out two pieces of sealing paper with seals already written on it. He put one on Sakura's arm and one on Sasuke's arm. The paper dissolved, and the seal grafted itself to the arm. "That is a recognition seal. Whenever we are in a nearby proximity, the seals will pulsate. Any questions?"

"Nope," replied Sakura. "But where did you learn to do this?"

"Jiraiya. Made me learn a bunch of seals. It was hell, but it was worth it to learn the seals. I found that by using chakra, I can write seals in the air, and use them in battle."

"Are you good at doing it yet?" asked Sasuke.

"No. I suck at it. But I am still better than I was when I started. But it is not battle ready yet." Soon, the rest of the genin arrived. As soon as they arrived, Anko got up.

"Alright brats, listen up. Each team will be given a scroll. Either a heaven or earth scroll. Your objective is to get the other scroll and make it to the tower that is in the center of the forest. The duration will be for five days," said Anko.

"What about food?" asked Choji.

"Figure it out," replied Anko. "There are some edible plants in the forest. Oh, and I will be passing out waiver forms. This is so if you die, Konoha can't be blamed."

"You mean we are allowed to kill?" asked one of the genin.

"Yes," replied Anko, handing out the forms. Naruto and his team quickly signed the scroll, before handing them to Anko, who in return gave them a heaven scroll. The three walked over to gate seven. Naruto spotted the girl that was sitting next to him, and felt a pulse in his stomach.

"What's wrong?" asked Sakura.

"That blonde chick from Kumo, I think she's a jinchūriki. Kyuubi was resonating with her."

"You mean-," said Sakura.

"Yeah. She holds the Nibi, the two tailed monster cat. We are to keep with the original plan, but be on guard with her, understood?"

"Yeah," said Sasuke, as he drew his ninjato, making sure it was sharp, before sheathing it.

"Now, enter and let the second exam, begin!" yelled Anko. Naruto and his team rushed into the forest. Silently, they unsealed their survival equipment to do an inventory.

"Alright," said Naruto, "We all have the necessary equipment. We have our separate assignments. Go!" The three leaped away, heading out to go track their assigned target.

|With Naruto|

Naruto landed in a tree and saw Gaara and his team facing a team of Ame-nin.

"So what will you do, Gaara?" asked Naruto. Below, Gaara looked at the Ame-nin with contempt.

"What do you want?" asked Gaara.

"Oh nothing," said the leader of the Ame-nin. "We just want to take your scroll. If you hand it over, we won't have to hurt you."

"O, I wouldn't worry about hurting us. You should worry more about yourselves," said Temari. "We have been on three A-rank missions. We have gone against many A-rank shinobi and missing-nin, but Gaara has always won, and without a scratch."

"You've got some nerve, coming up with that story," said the Ame-nin. "Come on guys, he's just one genin. No matter how strong he is, he is still human. Let's go!" The three Ame-nin threw the umbrellas that they had on their backs into the air, and started weaving hand seals. "Ninja Art: Needled Rain!" The three umbrellas snapped open, and started spinning, unleashing a barrage of Senbon at Gaara. As the Senbon impacted with the ground, a cloud of smoke appeared. When the smoke cleared, Gaara stood there, alive, behind a shield of hardened sand.

"Now it's my turn," said Gaara, the sand dissolving, as he grabbed one of the falling umbrellas. He pointed at the Ame-nin with his hand, the sand reaching up to encase their bodies.

"Wait, you can't do this!" shouted the leader.

"Wrong," said Gaara. "I can do it. Sand Burial!" The sand constricted and crushed the three Ame-nin. Blood spurted all over, and rained down. None of it got on Gaara as he used the umbrella to cover it, and Temari and Kankuro were too far from the ninja to get blood on them. The three turned and headed towards the tower. Naruto jumped to the ground.

"Fire style: Heat," murmured Naruto. He blew some fire onto the three ninja, turning the sand into glass, and then shattering the glass. Naruto rummaged through their belongings until he found an earth scroll. 'Time to catch up,' thought Naruto before he saw a cloud of red smoke. 'Sasuke!' Naruto took off, lowering his resistance seals from nine to five.

|With Sasuke|

Sasuke was tailing the Oto team, when a gust of wind threw him through the trees far away from the Oto team. As he flew, he released the red smoke bomb, as he knew that this genin was far above any Chūnin or Jounin, based on his chakra reserves. The only ones who had the chakra reserves as high as this guy were the Kages and Jinchūriki. And the only jinchūriki here are Naruto, Gaara, and the blonde from Kumo. He looked around and saw a Kusa-genin, his tongue long, and wiping his lips.

"What do you want?"

"Oh, nothing," said the genin. "I just want to test the might Sharingan of Konoha!" The genin charged at Sasuke, but was intercepted by a yell of, "Fire Style: Burning Pillar!" A huge pillar of fire erupted right in front of the genin. Naruto landed on a branch in front of Sasuke.

"Sasuke," said Naruto. "What is with this guy?"

"Don't know, but can you sense his chakra reserves?"

"Yeah. It's almost as big as-", said Naruto before he realized who this was. "Sasuke, this is a Sannin. His chakra, it feels like Jiraiya-sensei's chakra. It is incredibly potent. There aren't many like that."

"True," said the genin. "There aren't many chakra signatures in the world like mine. So my teammate has taken on another student, huh? Well, I guess I'll have to crush you." Naruto and Sasuke drew their swords. Just as the three were about to charge, Sakura came down, and threw a punch at the Kusa-genin, who was now revealed to be Orochimaru, before jumping to the branch where Sasuke and Naruto were.

"Who are we fighting?" asked Sakura.

"Orochimaru. We have to be careful. ANBU are already on their way, but we can't let Orochimaru escape. Formation Omega!" Naruto charged at Orochimaru, who had regurgitated the sword of Kusangi. Orochimaru thrust his sword at Naruto, who spun out of the way, then slashed at Orochimaru's neck, while Sasuke cut at the stomach. Orochimaru jumped up into the air, going right into Sakura's fist. Orochimaru flipped onto the tree branch, surveying the three genin.

"Fire style: great fireball!" yelled Sasuke.

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" shouted Naruto. The fireball, which was powered by the wind jutsu, hit Orochimaru, sending him flying up into the air. Naruto jumped up above Orochimaru in the air, and swung his blade right through Orochimaru, while channeling wind chakra through the sword. Naruto landed on a tree branch near Sakura and Sasuke, while the two parts of Orochimaru dissolved into snakes. "Tch. A snake clone. Fitting."

"Indeed," said Sasuke, while setting off another smoke bomb to tell the ANBU that everything has been taken care of. The three jumped away, keen on getting to the tower to notify the Hokage on what had happened. On their way, they encountered the Oto-genin, but quickly escaped.

|Tower watchroom|

Three Chūnin were watching the television, seeing when each team would make it back. As they were watching they had seen the Suna team make it back at the 1 hour and 47 minute mark.

"Man," said Izumo, one of the Chūnin in the room, "If any other team makes it back this early, I'll be very impressed. Not many Chūnin can say that they made it back easily."

"Agreed," said Kotetsu. However, he was flabbergasted when he saw Naruto and his team enter.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, Naruto made it back this early? And he and his teammates don't have many scratches, meaning that he had some part of it as well.

"Yeah," replied Izumo. "Who knew?"

|With Naruto and his team|

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke walked into the tower. They went to the middle of the room before opening the two squads. Suddenly there was a cloud of smoke and Iruka appeared.

"Iruka-sensei," exclaimed Naruto, thoroughly surprised.

"Well, you three are doing well. You're the second team to arrive here. You were only beat by the Suna team." Naruto's eyes narrowed.

"Iruka-sensei," said Naruto, "Could you please get the Hokage down here. We have information for him."

"About what?" asked Iruka.

"Orochimaru," said Sasuke. Iruka's eyes widened. He bit his thumb and summoned a hawk.

"Tell Hokage-sama that he is needed in the tower ASAP!" The hawk nodded and took off through the window in the tower. "Well, while we wait, do you guys want some food?"

"Ramen!" shouted Naruto. Both his teammates shook their heads. No matter how mature Naruto grows, he will never stop loving ramen.

"You guys fine with that?" asked Iruka. Both Sasuke and Sakura said yes. Iruka took out a scroll and unsealed three bowls of ramen and handed one to each 'genin' as well as a pair of chopsticks. The three unceremoniously slurped down the noodles and broth as quickly as possible. A puff of smoke signaled the arrival of the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," said all four ninja, bowing to the Hokage.

"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, come with me." The three followed the Hokage to an office, where Hiruzen activated listening seals. "Good. WE can talk without fear of being overheard. Now what happened? I thought I made it clear you were to observe your targets."

"Hokage-sama, we have information on Orochimaru. As you know, when two people of high skill clash blades, you can tell what they are thinking. Well, I gleaned much from that one encounter."

"What is it?" asked Hiruzen.

"During the third exam, there will be an invasion. And Orochimaru will be posing as the Kazekage. The real Yondaime Kazekage is already dead. And Gaara is their ultimate weapon. He has control over sand as he is the host of the Ichibi, the Shukaku. Additionally, he plans to use Edo Tensei, whatever that is."

"Are you sure, Naruto?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. And, Gaara is a dangerous variable, not because he is a jinchūriki, but because he cannot sleep. He is crazy and deranged. That makes him unpredictable."

"Indeed. You were right to abandon your observation. Sakura, did you learn anything?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Sakura. The three are indeed in league with Orochimaru. I saw them meeting with each other. It was just luck and my skill with Genjutsu that allowed me to stay undetected."

"Good. I don't want to lose you. You three are some of my strongest ANBU if you could go toe-to-toe with Orochimaru, even if it was only a clone."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama."

"Is there anything else you have to report?" asked Sarutobi.

"No," said Naruto, "But I have a question. I know that there will be a preliminary match. Should we win or lose?"

"Sasuke and Naruto, you will win. Sakura, you will tie with whoever you go up against. During the third exam, you all will be tasked with leading the rest of the genin to defend different areas. Naruto, you will be tasked with defeating Gaara. And should Kumo also decide to participate in the attack against us, Sasuke you will take out their jinchūriki. Should they aid us, you will help defend the entrance to the village, and kill as many enemy ninja as possible. Sakura, you will defend the eastern wall. Any questions?"

"No, sir," said Sasuke. "By your leave."

"Dismissed." The three ANBU left the room.

|Four Days Later|

During the four days that the ANBU team waited at the tower, they had trained themselves in different arts. Naruto trained himself in writing seals in the air during battle and using it effectively. Sasuke trained in mastering the final stage of the Ōkami Taijutsu style. It was the first step to becoming a true sage of the Ōkami summons. Sakura, however, had already past the first step to becoming a slug sage, and was working on increasing her teamwork with her personal summon, Dokuwohaku.

"All genin, please come to the main arena," said a Chūnin over the intercom. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke all walked down to the main arena where they saw the Hokage and many other Jounin.

"Welcome to the preliminary matches. As you can see, 24 of you have passed the exam. But, that would mean 12 matches, and that would take more than one day. Therefore, we will be holding preliminary matches. From now on, it is one on one, you will not be relying on the strength of your team."

"Excuse me, Hokage-sama," said a Jounin who landed in front of the Hokage. "As I am the proctor, would you allow me to explain the rules?"

"Of course, Hayate. The honor is yours," said the Hokage, stepping back. The Jounin turned around.

"Alright, during the matches, it will be one-on-one. The matches will be shown on the board above," said Hayate, motioning to the monitor above them. "You may fight however you want, but I reserve the right to stop any match. Understood?" Every genin nodded. "Then does anyone wish to give up now?" No one raised his or her hands. "Good. Then we will begin." The names on the screen rolled, before landing on Yoroi Akadō and Sasuke Uchiha.

"Will everyone but the participants please go up to the stands?" Sasuke and Yoroi glared at each other. "Now let the match begin!"

**A/N**

**Hope you like it. Please read and review.**


	3. Chapter 3

I don't own Naruto. Thanks to MechenManachewagan's story Team San'en for inspiration for this story

_Last Time_

"_Alright, during the matches, it will be one-on-one. The matches will be shown on the board above," said Hayate, motioning to the monitor above them. "You may fight however you want, but I reserve the right to stop any match. Understood?" Every genin nodded. "Then does anyone wish to give up now?" No one raised his or her hands. "Good. Then we will begin." The names on the screen rolled, before landing on Yoroi Akadō and Sasuke Uchiha._

"_Will everyone but the participants please go up to the stands?" Sasuke and Yoroi glared at each other. "Now let the match begin!"_

|Story Start|

Both ninja charged at each other, Sasuke flipped over Yoroi, just as Yoroi was about to grab onto him. He turned around to deal a roundhouse kick, but Yoroi grabbed his leg, and immediately he felt a drain on his chakra. Realizing what was happening, Sasuke yelled, "Lightning Style: Lightning Extension!" A burst of lightning was channeled through Sasuke's leg, electrocuting Yoroi, making Yoroi release Sasuke.

"So you realized what was happening?" asked Yoroi. Sasuke just stared at Yoroi, silently. "I get that a lot. But you won't be able to defeat me!" Yoroi charged at Sasuke who jumped backwards, while yelling, "Fire Style: Flame Barrier!" Sasuke spat a hell of a lot of flames in front of Yoroi, halting his charge. But it didn't last for long, as Yoroi jumped over flames and lightly grazed Sasuke's arm, but still took a good amount of chakra from Sasuke.

'Damn,' thought Sasuke. 'This would be so much easier if I could go all out. Hm. Maybe I can use that Taijutsu technique that Naruto showed me, the Cho Geri or Butterfly kick. I just need to tire Yoroi out.' Sasuke remained still, and just as Yoroi was about to grab him, he ducked and delivered a quick punch, before jumping away.

"Get back here!" yelled Yoroi, running after Sasuke. Sasuke stopped in front of the wall. He turned around, waiting for Yoroi, while building up his chakra in the soles of his feet. And just when Yoroi was upon him, he released the chakra, sending him up into the air, while Yoroi ran into the wall. Yoroi turned around in anger. "Stop running around like a coward, Uchiha! I bet you can't even use your Sharingan."

"That's okay," replied Sasuke, coolly. "I don't need it to defeat the likes of you."

"Why you!" Yoroi charged, for what would be the last time. Sasuke rolled underneath Yoroi, and then jumped into the air. Yoroi turned to see Sasuke as he extended his legs and arms like a butterfly in flight. Sasuke's knees grabbed onto the neck of Yoroi, and twisted, snapping the neck of Yoroi.

"Winner by death: Sasuke Uchiha!" proclaimed Hayate. Everyone in the crowd except Naruto, Sakura, Gaara, the Jounin and the Hokage were surprised by how easily Sasuke killed Yoroi.

|In the stands|

"Your teammate is very tough," said Yugito. Naruto turned to look at her.

"What makes you say that?" asked Naruto.

"He killed that guy without blinking. Not many can do that when the make their first kill," replied Yugito, raising her eyebrow.

"I kind of think that it isn't that surprising," replied Naruto, without a care in the world.

"What do you mean?" asked Yugito.

"He is used to death. He saw his brother kill his entire family. So I don't think he'd be that scared of death."

"Whoa." Suddenly the board rolled and Naruto saw a new set of names. 'Yugito Nii vs. Kabuto Yakushi.' As Yugito walked down, Naruto grabbed her hand. "Please do me a favor and destroy that guy."

"I would do nothing else," replied Yugito as she walked down. Kabuto waited at the ready, his special curved kunai in his hand.

"Le the match between Yugito Nii and Kabuto Yakushi begin!" Yugito took out a kunai in each hand and charged at Kabuto. The two clashed blows, matched evenly with their skill with a blade. Yugito jumped back and yelled, "Fire Style: Ash Cat!" Yugito spewed a cloud of black ash that took the shape of a cat. Yugito clicked her tongue, setting the ash on fire. The cat charged at Kabuto, who yelled, "Earth Style: Earth Wall!"

"Fire Style: Hell Fire Cage!" shouted Yugito. Yugito punched the ground and cracks formed around Kabuto. Black fire erupted the cracks, forming bars to stop Kabuto from moving.

"Water Style: Water shot!" Kabuto shot s bullet of water at the fire, but the fire just doused out the water.

"You can't escape," said Yugito. "Either you pass out from dehydration or I can kill you with the fire. Your choice. Now choose."

"I choose none of the above," said Kabuto. "Earth Style: Rock Wall! Earth Style: Rock Slide!" Kabuto raised a wall of earth, and then moved it towards the fire, which just burnt the earth away.

"You can't defeat my fire. It is fire from hell. It is more potent than any other fire. Now, I believe you have made your choice. Time for your death," said Yugito. Yugito slammed her hand on the ground while yelling, "Fire Style: Spear Execution!" The bars of the fire cage suddenly turned and shot through Kabuto's body. "And now, you are dead," said Yugito.

"Winner: Yugito Nii." Yugito walked up, where Samui and Atsui came up and greeted her.

"Great job, Yu-chan," said Atsui.

"Shut up, Atsui," muttered Samui. "But good job, Yugito."

"Thank you Samui." Yugito looked at the boy who she had been talking to. She saw him smile at him before turning back to the matches. The screen rolled through names again, and stopped on Shino Aburume and Zaku.

"Will Zaku and Shino Aburume please come down to the arena?" shouted Hayate. Shino calmly walked down the stairs, while Zaku jumped over the railing and landed in the arena. "Let the fight begin!" Zaku raised his arm and pointed it at Shino.

"Decapitating airwaves!" A blast of wind shot out from the holes that were present in Zaku's hands. Shino ducked underneath the blast, and sent some kikai bugs at Zaku, who just blasted them away, while throwing a punch at Shino, who dissolved into a bunch of kikai bugs. Zaku turned around to see Shino standing behind him with kikai bugs hovering beside him.

"You cannot win. Your defeat is assured," whispered Shino.

"Like hell it is. DECAPITATING AIRWAVES!" As soon as Zaku yelled that, a shot was supposed to shoot out from the holes in Zaku's hands, but instead, his arms were blown off. "What the hell?" Zaku looked at his arm and saw that there were bugs crawling out of the holes that were in his hand.

"Now you see why you will lose. You can't fight without your arms. Do you surrender?"

"Like hell, I'll surrender," shouted Zaku. Suddenly, the bugs started swarming around Zaku, and latched onto him.

"Then I'll drain you of your chakra," said Shino, before walking upstairs.

"Winner: Shino Aburume." The names on the board rolled again, this time landing on Kankuro and Misumi.

"Kankuro and Misumi, please come down here." Both fighters were ready to fight in minutes. Kankuro took the giant package that was wrapped in bandages off of his back and slammed it on the ground.

"Ready when you are," declared Kankuro. Misumi charged at Kankuro, wrapping himself around the Suna-genin, until he had snapped the neck of his opponent.

"Idiot," said Misumi, "You lost." Hayate was about to call it, when the head of Kankuro turned around, revealing a wooden face. Suddenly, the package that Kankuro had dropped when Misumi charged him started to unveil itself. There, stood the real Kankuro, who controlling the fake with chakra strings.

"No, you lost," said Kankuro. The puppet grabbed Misumi with his arms and started to crush him. Misumi started screaming in pain. After a few minutes, Misumi yelled, "I giv-!" But Misumi wasn't able to finish his sentence as Kankuro snapped his back before Misumi could give up, killing him. The medics came and carried Misumi away on a stretcher as Hayate announce Kankuro the winner. Finally, the board rolled again, and this time it landed on Sakura and Ino. As Sakura walked past Naruto, he whispered, "Tie."

"I know," replied Sakura. She calmly walked down and settled into the academy fighting style. When they got down to the arena, Sakura began to speak. "Ino, this is not a fight over Sasuke. This is a fight to determine who is stronger. Let this be a fair fight. There will be no grudges against the winner."

"Agreed," replied Ino.

"Let the match between Sakura and Ino, begin!" Sakura ran at Ino, creating two illusionary clones beside her. Sakura charged her feet with chakra and leapt into the air at Ino. Ino punched one of the clones, dispelling it, thinking it was the real one. Sakura landed a blow on Ino's cheek, sending her flying into the ground.

"Ino, I am not the crybaby I was back then. Fight me like you mean it!"

"Very well, Sakura. I will give you what you want." Ino and Naruto charged at each other, throwing a fist, as well as blocking a fist. When it became evident that neither could win the power struggle, the leapt back, while at the same time throwing a shruiken at each other. The two kept up a Taijutsu fight for quite some time, until they both punched each other in the face, sending both of them flying.

"You can't win Sakura! Just give up."

"Like hell I will. I won't lose to someone who only cares about how she looks. And you can't use your only clan justu because of its weakness you know that." Ino growled, and then took a kunai to her hair, before cutting it, and throwing it at Sakura. Sakura dodged, but some of the hair got onto her sandal. Suddenly, Sakura couldn't move.

"What? What is going on?" asked Sakura.

"This is my trap, Sakura. By running my chakra through my hair, my hair becomes a rope that can keep you in your place. Now, time for my jutsu. Ninja Art: Mind Transfer Jutsu!" Ino made a seal and shot her mind at Sakura. Sakura's head dropped a little until she raised her head and started to raise her hand.

"Sakura!" yelled Naruto. "Blood freely given, so others may live!" These words shook Sakura to the core and started wrestling with Ino for control over her body, until Ino had been forcefully expelled.

"That Naruto. What the hell was that about anyway?" asked Ino.

"Something that will stay in Team 7. Now, it's time to wrap this up." The two charged at each other and threw a punch, knocking both of them to the ground again. As soon as Ino hit the ground she was unconscious. However, Sakura wasn't. But according to Hokage-sama's orders she had to tie, so she bit down a pill that she had stored in her mouth since the beginning of the fight, which knocked her out.

"This match is a tie!" Naruto jumped over the railings and grabbed Sakura, and proceeded to bring her up. Asuma did the same with Ino.

"That was an interesting match, don't you think, Kakashi?"

"Yeah. Sakura really has grown." On the inside, Kakashi was thinking, 'Was it Hokage-sama's orders that Sakura tie with Ino? I know she could have won.'

|A few minutes later|

Sakura woke up to see both Temari and Tenten fighting. Tenten was using a katana, and trying to get in close, but Temari was shooting shots of wind at her, which Tenten kept dodging. Tenten channeled chakra into her feet, and appeared right over Temari, and was about to stab down, when Temari hit her in the private area, before throwing her up into the air and letting her land on the fan, her back hitting the fan with a loud crunch.

"This match is over. Winner: Temari!" shouted Hayate. Gai appeared in the arena, grabbing Tenten and handing her to the medics for treatment. The board stopped on Shikamaru and Kin, one of the Oto.

"Will Shikamaru and Kin please come down to the arena?"

"Troublesome," muttered Shikamaru as he walked down to the arena. A few moments later, both Kin and Shikamaru were ready for the battle.

"Let the match between Shikamaru and Kin begin!" Kin jumped to the side and started throwing Senbon at Shikamaru. Shikamaru, being the lazy bastard he is, just moved his head to the side to dodge the attack. But, when a cut appeared on his cheek, Shikamaru's eyes narrowed. Kin then started throwing more Senbon, but this time, they had bells attached to it.

"I see," said Shikamaru. "So your plan is to throw Senbon, one of which will only have a bell, and the other won't. Which means, I only have to dodge both of them."

"You talk too much!" Kin threw another set of Senbon, while discreetly pulling on a string that was attached to the last set of Senbon she threw. Shikamaru dodged and was surprised to hear bells, when there weren't any on the Senbon she threw. He looked at the ones with bells and saw ninja string.

"No," breathed Shikamaru. Suddenly the bells started to ring at an even faster rate. Shikamaru looked at Kin, who had suddenly gained duplicates.

"You can't see the real me, can you? Too bad. Now I'm going to make you look like a porcupine, before putting you out of your misery." Kin raised her hand, ready to throw, but couldn't move.

"Shadow imitation jutsu, achieved."

"But how? Your shadow doesn't even reach me?" It was true. On the floor, there were only two shadows of the strings.

"Idiot. A string that high wouldn't cast a shadow," said Shikamaru, as the shadow widened. "Now, let's finish this." Shikamaru drew a shruiken, forcing Kin to draw her own.

"Are you crazy? We'll both get hurt!"

"We'll see." Both Shikamaru and Kin threw their Shruiken. Just as it was about to hit them, Shikamaru leaned back, making Kin lean back. But while Shikamaru was able to lean all the way back, Kin wasn't. She hit her head on the wall knocking her out.

"Winner: Shikamaru." Shikamaru walked back up to the stands lazily. The names on the board started circling again, before it landed on Naruto Uzumaki vs. Kiba Inuzuka.

"Yes. My turn," said Naruto, jumping off the balcony.

"Lucky," said Kiba. "We'll be able to defeat Naruto easily."

"I'm not so sure about that," murmured Shikamaru.

"Why is that?" asked Asuma.

"On Naruto's last day off, I saw him perform the body flicker jutsu. That isn't normally taught to genin."

"You're right. Naruto must be pretty good to know that jutsu. Kakashi, did you teach that to him?"

"Hm. Yes I did. In fact, I taught it all to them after I took them on their first C-turned-A rank mission. I needed them to have a jutsu that would allow them to escape."

"I see." In the arena, Kiba was grinning and just relaxing, while Naruto had put his hand on the handle of his Nodachi.

"Are you ready to lose, idiot?" asked Kiba, as Akamaru jumped out of his jacket onto the floor.

"…" Naruto just remained quiet and waited for the match to begin.

"Let the match between Naruto and Kiba, begin!" Naruto charged at Kiba, while drawing his sword.

"Fang over fang!" yelled Kiba, charging at Naruto. Naruto slid underneath Kiba, who turned around to go after Naruto.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Five copies of Naruto appeared. "Fire Style: Fire Fist!" Every Naruto, including the original, punched at Kiba, releasing a huge blast of fire. Kiba, realizing the danger, stopped his fang over fang and jumped away. Kiba charged at Naruto, intending to initiate a Taijutsu contest. Naruto sheathed his sword, and got into the stance of the Samurai style Taijutsu.

"Come on then," said Naruto. "Let's see what you can do." Naruto barely dodged each blow, and was only able to get a few hits in on Kiba, while Kiba got seven or eight on Naruto. But even so, Naruto smiled. 'Everything going according to plan. Now, to finish this.' Naruto gathered chakra into his hands. Naruto jumped into the air and slammed his fist into the ground, shattering it.

"Damn, Naruto, what kind of strength do you have?"

"The monstrous kind, Kiba." Naruto jumped into the air, while channeling chakra into his legs and arms, which extended like a butterfly. He used his left foot to kick away the guard Kiba put up, and then twisted his body, and sent an chakra enhanced kick into Kiba's face, knocking him into the wall.

"What the hell? That's Sasuke's move. Are you a copycat or something?"

"First of all, I taught Sasuke that move, and he didn't even do it correctly. He modified it. Secondly, all students are copycats. To begin learning, you must first copy the movements of your sensei." Naruto then charged at Kiba, drawing his sword. "One Sword Style: Flowing Blade!" Naruto's Nodachi started glowing dark blue, before Naruto slashed Kiba in the stomach. Naruto turned around, and sheathed his blade, walking away.

"We're not done!" yelled Kiba.

"Yes, we are," said Naruto, as he continued walking. Kiba stepped forward, before falling to the ground.

"Winner: Naruto," said Hayate, after he checked to see if Kiba was conscious, and found that Kiba wasn't. Naruto walked up the stairs, passing Hinata and Kurenai without even bothering to take the cream that Hinata offered.

"Thank you Hinata, but wouldn't it be better if you applied that to Kiba? I did cut him up pretty badly."

"O-okay, Naruto-kun." Naruto smiled at Hinata.

"But thank you for caring about my well-being, even though I am not on your team." Naruto walked over to where Sasuke and Sakura were waiting. He stood right next to Sasuke. "Your Cho Geri was horrible, you know that right?"

"Of course I do. But now you're just showing off."

"Shut up." Naruto turned his eyes to the board, which went through a multitude of names before landing on Hinata and Neji. "This will be an interesting match. The heir of the head family vs. the heir of branch family, who will win, I wonder." Both Neji and Hinata got into the style for the gentle fist.

"Give up, Hinata-sama," said Neji. "You aren't good enough to become a ninja."

"Oy, Neji-san, I was told that you are a prodigy. If so, then you should have no problem defeating her."

"Shut up, Naruto. You are just a loser. And a loser, will always loser." Naruto rolled his eyes.

"Just battle." Neji scowled, but turned to face Hinata, who had steeled her nerves and got into a ready position.

"Begin!" Neji and Hinata charged at each other, using their gentle fist to knock each other's hands away, and trying to land a solid hit. For a few seconds, it looked like they were matched even, until Neji hit Hinata in the chest. Suddenly, Hinata coughed up blood.

"So this is the best that you can do? Pathetic." Hinata thrust her arm at Neji, who dodged it, then jabbed his finger into the arm of Hinata. Hinata gasped in pain. He then pulled back her sleeve, to show many red spots.

"All this time?"

"Yes. And now, you will lose!" Neji slammed his hand into Hinata's chest. Hinata coughed as she slid back. However, she stood back up straight, and charged at Neji.

"I will show you that I am strong!" Hinata slid right behind Neji, and got into a weird stance. The stance for one of the Gentle Fist signature moves. "Eight Trigrams: 32 palms!" Hinata started hitting some of the tenketsu points.

"Two Palms!"

"Four palms!"

"Sixteen palms!"

"Thirty-two palms!" Hinata finished off the combo, sending Neji backwards. Hinata charged at Neji, intending to finish the fight, but Neji moved right in front of her, dodging her attack, while simultaneously delivering the finishing blow.

"It's over," said Neji.

"Kakashi," whispered Naruto, "Be ready to stop Neji. If she gets up, he will attack with the intent to kill."

"Yeah, I know," said Kakashi, lazily.

"This match is over!" said Hayate. Neji continued walking, but when he heard gasps from the crowd, he saw Hinata stand back up.

"I will not give up. Not in front of the person I admire most. And especially when I can see that you are suffering more than I am." Neji's eyes twitched dangerously before he charged at Hinata.

"Neji, this match is over," yelled Hayate as he ran in front of Hinata. Suddenly, Gai, Kakashi, and Kurenai grabbed Neji, while Hayate had his finger on Neji's forehead protector.

"Stand down, genin," said Hayate. "This match is over. You won. Now get out of the arena." Neji glared at him before turning around, while Hinata collapsed. The medics came and grabbed Hinata, and took her to the infirmary. The board started rolling through names again, before coming to rest on Samui and Atsui.

"Finally, I get my turn!" cheered Atsui.

"Yes. But you won't win," said Samui.

"Crap. I got to go against you, nee-chan."

"Whatever, let's go down to the arena."

"Let the match between Samui and Atsui begin!" Atsui charged at Samui, drawing his katana.

"Cloud Style: Flame Beheading!" Atsui cut right through Samui with his blade of fire. When the flames ceased, Samui was nowhere to be seen. Until, a tanto emerged from his stomach.

"Samui?"

"You're too hot-headed, brother."

"Yes. But you also forgot something." Samui looked at his hand, which had a kunai ready to plunge into her stomach. "If you don't take the tanto out, I will stab you."

"Well, then I'll do a knockout technique." Atsui's eyes widened, before he threw his weapons up, and started weaving seals.

"Fire Style: Pillar of Flames!"

"Lightning Style: Pillar of lightning!" Two pillars of elemental charka appeared around the two. When it disappeared, they saw Samui and Atsui barely standing.

"Why? You are usually calculative and calm. How come you used that technique when you could have saved yourself?"

"Because it was different. I thought maybe you wouldn't use your Pillar of Flames. Obviously I was wrong. Lightning Style: Lightning Field!" Samui slammed her hand onto the ground, sending lightning at her brother.

"Fire style: Fire field!" Atsui did the same thing as his sister, sending fire at her. The two were knocked back and into the wall, knocking them both out.

"That was…" said Naruto, not knowing how to finish the sentence.

"Boring?" asked Yugito, who appeared beside Naruto.

"Yeah. That's the word. I kind of expected more. But oh well. I want to see Gaara fight. I want to see how Mr. 1 stacks up. Don't you, Ms. 2?"

"How do you know?" asked Yugito, putting her hand on her stomach.

"Let me reintroduce myself. I am Naruto Uzumaki, also known as Mr. 9."

"Mr. 9? Kyuubi." Naruto nodded before turning his head to look at the board. When it stopped rolling, it was on Gaara and Dosu. Dosu jumped off the balcony, while Gaara just dissolved into sand and reformed in the arena.

"Let the match between Dosu and Gaara begin!" Gaara extended his hand at Dosu, making the sand in his gourd, which was on his back, race towards Dosu. Dosu dodged and ran at Gaara.

"Sound Waves!" The waves from the gauntlet hit Gaara in the side of his head. "Now let's see you fight as effectively." Gaara just narrowed his eyes, and raised his hand. Sand burst from the ground, and wrapped around Dosu.

"What the hell is this?" yelled Dosu.

"Your death. You thought the sound waves would affect me, but you are dead wrong. No Genjutsu or sense altering technique works on me. Now, time for you to go. Sand Burial!" Gaara made a fist with the hand that was controlling the sand. The sand constricted until blood burst from the sand.

"Winner: Gaara. Now will the final two contestants please come down?" Both Choji and Lee walked down.

"Choji!" yelled Asuma. Choji looked up. "When you win, we'll go out to barbeque!" Choji's eyes were lit on fire.

"You got it, Asuma-sensei. I will win!" Choji turned to look at Lee, who got into the standard iron fist stance.

"Let the match between Choji and Lee, begin!" Lee charged at Choji, sending punch. Choji put up a guard, but was still sent back, just because of the force behind that one punch.

"Partial Expansion Jutsu!" yelled Choji, as he charged at Lee. "Arm Stretch Jutsu!" Choji stretched his arm back, before sending it towards Lee. Lee blocked it, but was still sent back. However, just before he hit the wall, Lee vanished and reappeared above Choji.

"Leaf Descending Wind!" Lee brought his foot down on Choji, who blocked it, with his normal sized hands, but the ground still cracked as Choji struggled to keep Lee at bay. Finally, he was able to push him off.

"Multi size Jutsu!" Choji's body expanded, while his arms, legs, and head didn't'. "Human Bullet Jutsu!" Choji tacked in his arms, legs, and head, and rolled up into a ball, where he shot himself at Lee, who reared back his fist. When Choji got near, Lee slammed his fist into the ground, causing a slab of earth to flip upwards, sending Choji into the air, but it was only a distraction, as Lee gathered 'youth' into his fist, before sending it at Choji.

"Youthful Punch!" yelled Lee as he completed the attack. Choji fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Winner: Lee. Now, all winners please come down to the arena. The rest are free to go." Naruto and all the others who had won approached Hayate, the Hokage, and the other Jounin. Anko, the proctor for the second exam held out a box.

"Take a piece of paper from here." Naruto reached in and pulled out a one. Neji got a two. Sasuke got a three. Gaara got a four. Kankuro got a five, while Shino got a six. Temari got a seven, while Shikamaru got an eight. Lee got a nine, while Yugito got a ten.

"Okay," said Anko, once she saw the numbers that each person had. "Here are the lineups for each match." She held out a piece of paper.

Naruto vs. Neji

Gaara vs. Sasuke

Kankuro vs. Shino

Temari vs. Shikamaru

Lee vs. Yugito

The winner of Naruto's and Sasuke's match would face off, the winner of Shino and Shikamaru's match would face off. The winner between Lee and Yugito would face off against the winner of the previous match, a free ride to the third round.

"Wait," said Shikamaru. "Does that mean only one of us gets promoted?"

"No. This is just a way for us to see how you fight. That is all. A tournament is the easiest way. Any other questions? No. Then you all have a month to prepare."

"A month?" asked Naruto in fake disbelief.

"Yes, Naruto, a month. You are given this time to prepare new strategies, jutsus and the like for your opponent. You probably showcased some of your strongest strategies and jutsus here, so you will probably want new ones. Anything else?" When no one responded, the Hokage started speaking again. "Very well. We will meet in the arena in the center of the village at 11:00 a.m. in one month. You are free to leave now."

"Thank you," said all of the genin, before leaving. Naruto looked at the back of his sheet, and made some hand seals, revealing a message. 'Meet me in my office tomorrow at 9. Bring the rest of the team.' Naruto handed the message to Sasuke, who nodded.

"I got to go somewhere, so you tell Sakura. Can you do that?"

"What do you take me for, an idiot? Of course I can." Behind them, Neji wondered what was so important to tell Sakura. He was about to use his byakugan to find out what it said, when Naruto burned the piece of paper with fire chakra. Neji sighed. It was probably nothing.


	4. Chapter 4

I don't own Naruto. Thanks to MechenManachewagan's story Team San'en for inspiration for this story

_Last time_

_Naruto looked at the back of his sheet, and made some hand seals, revealing a message. 'Meet me in my office tomorrow at 9. Bring the rest of the team.' Naruto handed the message to Sasuke, who nodded._

"_I got to go somewhere, so you tell Sakura. Can you do that?"_

"_What do you take me for, an idiot? Of course I can." Behind them, Neji wondered what was so important to tell Sakura. He was about to use his byakugan to find out what it said, when Naruto burned the piece of paper with fire chakra. Neji sighed. It was probably nothing._

Story Start

|Konoha: next day|

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke were in the Hokage's office, in their ANBU uniform, complete with the masks.

"You wished to see us, Hokage-sama?" asked Sakura.

"Yes. You three will be the ones leading the genin. You all know how to make blood clones, no?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Sasuke, "We all know how to use that jutsu."

"Then you will use the jutsu to create clones of yourselves that will fight in the exam for you. Sakura, yours will be sitting with your friend Ino, so as not to arouse suspicion. Sasuke, I doubt we will get past your match, provided that you are on time, and haven't picked up Kakashi's chronic disease."

"Yes sir, I will not be late."

"Good. Naruto, you are to lead a regiment of genin, Chūnin, and Jounin that will be patrolling the northeastern forest around Konoha during the exams. These genin will be ones who aren't participating in the exam. They have all received their assignment. Sasuke, you will be leading a similar squad to patrol the Northwestern forest. You also will get a similar squad, Sakura, only for the Southwestern forest. In addition, ANBU codenamed Neko (cat) will be leading her squad through the Southeastern forest. Are there any questions?"

"Yes, sir," said Naruto. "We will be patrolling during the exams correct?" Sarutobi nodded. "Should we start our patrols around the start of the exams, before the exams, or after the exams begin?"

"Good question. You will start your patrol at 10:00 sharp. Make sure everyone is there. Your assigned teams are waiting for you at Training ground 0. Go." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke nodded, before heading to training ground 0. Training ground 0 was a special training ground. This one couldn't be accessed by anyone not of Konoha. The metal of the forehead protectors or the ANBU tattoo resonated with the field surrounding the training ground, which allows the ninja access to the field. And it has never been bypassed before.

|Training Ground 0|

At training ground 0, there were at 240 ninja waiting for the arrival of the remaining ANBU members. One, Neko, was already here. The ninja weren't disappointed as three more ANBU members dropped down from the trees.

"Neko-san," said the leading ANBU member, "Do you want to take control, as you are the senior member?"

"No, Heiwa, you may take charge. This will be a good exercise for you. You need to be able to lead large groups of shinobi under your command and direct them efficiently. I am assuming the two behind you are Iyashi and Hakai."

"Correct, Neko-san. Very well, I will take charge." Naruto turned to look at the crowd before him. Within the crowd, Naruto could see Choji, Ino, Kiba, and Tenten among them. "Genin and Chūnin of Konoha. You have been summoned here for one reason, and one reason only. To help defend the village of Konoha in the coming battle."

"What the hell do you mean by that?" yelled Kiba.

"Mind your place, genin. All will be explained. As I was saying, we will be going to battle. Suna and Oto plan to invade Konoha and destroy it during the Chūnin exams. Our mission is simple. We are to patrol the forests of Konoha on the day of the Chūnin exam final, find, and eliminate any possible threat. Are there any questions?"

"Yes," said Ino. "How old are you, and what makes you fit to lead us?"

"I am as old as you are, miss. However, I am very much capable of leading you."

"Oh yeah? And why is that?" shouted a random Chūnin.

"The fact that I was chosen by Hokage-sama should be enough. But if it isn't, then I have other proof. You all know about the downfall of the previous regime ruling Hoshi, right?" Every ninja present nodded. "My team and I were the ones who brought it down, and installed the current Yondaime Hoshikage as leader of the village. Now, are there any other questions?"

"No, sir," said Ino.

"Good. Now, all those who were assigned to the Northeastern forest come with me. Those with the Northwestern forest go with Hakai. Those with the Southwestern forest go with Iyashi. Those with the Southeastern forest go with Neko." Naruto backed up a bit, and looked among who were assigned to him. He found that he had gotten 20 genin, 20 Chūnin, and 20 Jounin. Among the ones that he had received, the only genin that he knew was Tenten. Of the Jounin here, only five of them were in the Bingo book.

"So, Heiwa," said one of the Jounin, "How are we doing this?"

"First, we are setting up a chain of command. Silver Wolf Zane, you will be the second-in-command." The Inuzuka was surprised. Usually, people never gave the second-in-command position to an Inuzuka.

"Thank you, sir. I won't let you down."

"I know you won't. Now, we will divide into teams of three. Are there any problems with that?"

"I do, sir," said one of the genin. "Wouldn't it be better if we divide into teams of two so we can cover more ground? Or we could do teams of four or five so that the teams are stronger."

"Boy, do you know why big groups aren't common?"

"No, sir."

"They attract too much attention. True, it would make the team stronger overall, but it would increase the attention they would draw, and on a scouting mission, that is bad for us. Now, do you have a problem with the way I am organizing the teams?" asked Naruto, with an edge to his voice.

"No, sir," said the genin in fear.

"Good. Now, I need to know the overall abilities of you. Therefore, all 60 of you will be fighting me. I want to see how well you will do. Come, I will take you to where we will be fighting." Naruto jumped away, followed closely by the Jounin and Chūnin, while the genin lagged behind a little. Naruto landed in a big clearing.

"Is this where we will be training until the beginning of the exams?" asked Zane.

"Yes, so memorize this area. Now, come at me, everyone!" Naruto took up a Taijutsu stance, opting for the Samurai style, rather than the Toad Sage Fist. The genin, as expected charged at Naruto without much thought. Naruto brought his leg up to knock away the arms of the first genin, and followed it up with another kick to the face of the genin.

"Water Style: Water Bullet!" yelled one of the more experienced genin.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" Naruto stomped on the ground, raising a wall to block the bullet.

"Fire Style: Fire Shot Jutsu!" The genin took in a deep breath, before blowing out a small, but highly condensed shot of fire at Naruto. Naruto jumped towards the fireball, and with his left slashed the fireball, splitting it in half, sending the tow halves at the genin behind him.

"Earth Style: Ground Wrecker!" shouted one of the Jounin, slamming his fist into the ground. Naruto leaped over the crack that appeared in the ground, which took out many other genin and Chūnin.

"Fire Style: Heaven's spear!" Naruto formed a spear of blue fire, and then launched it at the Jounin, impaling him in the shoulder, and knocking him out of the fight. When Naruto landed on the ground, there were 29 Jounin and 10 Chūnin. The Jounin had taken out the genin and Chūnin when he used Earth Style: Ground Wrecker Jutsu.

"Wind Style: Cutting Blade Jutsu!" whispered Naruto, as he swung his blade in circle, sending multiple blades of wind all around him. The Jounin and Chūnin dodged as best as they could, but eventually, they all were knocked down, but not out. One of the Jounin charged Naruto, but Naruto appeared right in front of him, his Nodachi at the Jounin's neck, stopping him. "We are done," said Naruto. He took the blade form the Jounin's neck and stood straight up. "Shadow Clone Jutsu." Many clones of Naruto went around, picking up all the injured genin and Chūnin.

"Genin, Chūnin, you all will be staying here. There is an underground facility for housing that we will use. During this month, you will all hate me. I am going to drive you into the ground. By the time that I am done with you, all of you will be able to face a Chūnin level ninja and win. Jounin, you will return to the village. The foreign ninja will notice of the Jounin go missing. Now, go! I will take care of the genin and Chūnin." The Jounin nodded and disappeared. Naruto picked up Tenten, from where she lay. He, along with his clones brought the Chūnin and genin back to the facility, and put them in the infirmary, where medic began healing, along with Iyashi.

"Hakai," said Naruto, "How was your batch?"

"Decent. Some of the genin knew some elemental Ninjutsu, as did the Chūnin. But what impressed me the most was the fact that they all used some teamwork. How about you?"

"Almost the same as yours, except there was little teamwork, although some of the genin and Chūnin did form small teams to attack me. But as a whole, they didn't attack me as one big unit. Often, the teams would get in each other's way."

"Hm. We have our work cut out for us."

"Yep. I'm going to go grab the scroll that Hokage-sama prepared for us. It has today's meals. I'm going to set it out for the ninja. You coming?"

"Nah. I'll wait for Iyashi," replied Sasuke.

"Are you sure you don't have something for her?" asked Naruto, "After all, you two spend a lot of time together…"

"Heiwa, get out of here, before I kill you."

"Like you could do that. Who was it that beat your ass in a spar a week ago?" asked Naruto.

"Shut up," said Sasuke, his body shaking with rage. Naruto chuckled as he ran away, while Sasuke launched a low-powered fire jutsu.

"What was that about?" asked Sakura, as she exited the infirmary.

"Nothing. Just Heiwa being his annoying self," replied Sasuke.

"Heiwa really can be annoying when he wants to. Makes me wonder how he became captain, and how he can be so serious during missions and battle."

"Agreed. How are our genin and Chūnin?"

"They'll live. But they really are going to hate us after what we put them through," said Sakura.

"Of course. But that means that they will survive the coming battle."

"I know. But these genin and Chūnin haven't been exposed to the world like we have. They haven't lost their innocence yet. I doubt some of them have even made their first kill."

"We're going have to make them do it," said Sasuke. "We have to get 120 live animals, that people wouldn't mind losing. 120 animals for one of them to kill. But we aren't going to make them raise them. That will be tomorrow's lesson. How to kill."

"Great idea, Hakai. Terrorize them on the first day," muttered Sakura. "But you have a point. Do you know if Hokage-sama foresaw this?"

"Probably, Iyashi. Let's go check," said Sasuke. The two walked down to where all the supplies that Hokage-sama had given them. There they saw about 150 rabbits sleeping. "Good. First thing tomorrow, they all will kill one of these rabbits."

|Next day; 4:00 a.m.|

"Get up!" yelled Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, and Neko into each room. All the genin and Chūnin were rudely awoken, and got up groggily, put their ninja gear on, and followed the ANBU ninja. When they got into the training field, they saw a box with a black cloth covering it behind the ANBU.

"Alright," said Naruto, "Listen up. Today, you will be losing your innocence. You will make a kill."

"What?" shouted Ino. "Why?"

"So you don't freeze up on the battle field when you are forced to kill someone. So, come up and grab a rabbit." Naruto threw off the black cloth off of the box, revealing the rabbits. Ino, Kiba, and Tenten were among the first to come up and grab a rabbit. But each of them hesitated, before stabbing the kunai into the neck of the rabbit, and letting the blood splatter across their faces. Soon, the rest of the genin and Chūnin had grabbed their own rabbit, before killing them. Naruto, and the rest watched their reactions with mild interest. Soon, everyone had committed the deed.

"Good," said Sasuke, stepping forward. "For now, we will stay in one group. First, give me ten laps around the training field, 50 pushups and sit ups, and 25 pull ups." The genin stared at him, wide-eyed, while the Chūnin started their laps. "Stop staring. Get going!" yelled Sasuke. The genin snapped out of their daze, and started running.

"Well, time for us to start our workout," said Naruto. He took off his armor, and uniform, except for the mask, pants and sandals, showing toned body that had just enough muscle. "Come on, are you coming, Hakai, Iyashi?" Naruto got on the ground, and pushed himself perpendicular to the ground on one finger, which was hovering just above the ground because of the chakra Naruto was pushing out of the finger. Naruto started to handstand pushups. Hakai and Iyashi mirrored what he was doing, but not at the pace that Naruto was going. Soon the genin came back from running their laps, and nearly dropped when they saw what the ANBU were doing for exercise.

"What are you doing?" yelled Sasuke. "Continue with your workout!" Every genin and Chūnin dropped into a sit up or pushup stance and started doing them, switching to the other stance as soon as they had completed 50 of the exercise. While they were doing that, the ANBU walked over to a tree, and sat perpendicular to the tree trunk, his bottom firmly attached to the middle of the tree trunk, while balancing five kunai, on their points, on his finger tips. Finally, after two more grueling hours, the ANBU finally stopped.

"Alright," said Naruto, with a smile. "We have completed our morning exercises. We will be doing this everyday." The genin and Chūnin were too tired to responded and just nodded. "Now, I do believe that it is time for breakfast." Everyone went inside and found miso, Tamagoyaki, and green tea.

"Eat up," said Sakura, "And no dieting. I expect everything on those trays gone. You will need the energy. Today, Heiwa and I will take the genin. Neko and Hakai will take the Chūnin. When splitting up by ranks, these are the groups we will spit into; we are the ones who get the genin. Understood?" All the genin who were eating nodded. "I don't need to explain where the Chūnin go, do I?" All the Chūnin shook their heads. "Good. Now continue eating." Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke sat down to eat as well. They pressed a button on the inside of their mask, allowing for the bottom half of the mask to disconnect. Naruto started eating the gusto, almost as much as the genin. Soon, the Jounin arrived as well, but waited as they had already eaten breakfast.

"Jounin," said Sasuke. "We will not be leading you. Instead, we have this scroll for you." Sasuke threw the scroll to Zane Inuzuka. "Zane, you will take charge. Lead them through those exercises, then as much physical exercises as possible. Make yourselves work until you drop."

"Yes, sir," said Zane, taking the scroll and leading the Jounin out.

|With the blood clone Naruto|  
Naruto was walking along the streets of towards his apartment, when he ran into someone. He looked to see who it was, and saw that it was Shikamaru.

"Hey, Shika," said Naruto, "What brings you here to my neck of the woods?"

"Can I ask you something in private?" asked Shikamaru. Naruto shrugged, before opening the door to his apartment and letting Shikamaru in, before closing the door. Discreetly, Naruto activated listening seals.

"So, Shika, what do you need?"

"Naruto, I need to know. Where are Ino, Choji, and Kiba? I went to their houses and I was told that they were training. I asked the sensei's and they had no idea."

"So why ask me? I am just a genin," replied Naruto.

"No, you aren't, Heiwa," said Shikamaru. As soon as he said that, Shikamaru, was thrown off his feet, and pushed up against the wall.

"Where did you hear that information?" asked Naruto.

"I figured it out. The way you and your teammates wear you headbands on your arms. How you were able to use the body flicker jutsu. So could you put me down please?" Naruto let Shikamaru slide down.

"Listen to me, Shika, and listen well. If anyone else finds out about us, you will be the first to be questioned, got it?" Shikamaru nodded. "Good. As for your friends, they are at a training camp. Don't worry about them. Currently, I am training them."

"But, you're right here," said Shikamaru.

"I'm a clone you dolt. Now get out of here, and remember my warning…"

"Got it," replied Shikamaru. Shikamaru left, unnerved but relieved. When he got to the Konoha archives, Shikamaru pulled up a file on the computer, the file of Naruto Uzumaki. It contained all the information on what missions he had done, who his teammates were, and what kind of abilities. But what confused him was the part that said, 'Retracted Information.' 'So I was right,' thought Shikamaru. He turned off the computer and went to Training ground 10, which is where he told Asuma he would meet him for training.

|With Naruto and Sakura|

"Alright, brats, time to get to work. We will be doing teamwork exercises. You will be divided at random. You don't get to choose whom you do or do not work with. You will work with everyone and you will do it without complaints."

"Understood," said the genin.

"Good. Now all those who were with Neko will pair up with those that are under Heiwa. My genin will pair up with Hakai's genin." The genin divided up into two groups. "Now, you will divide into two teams of ten. It will be one team of ten from one side versus another team of ten from the other. Your goal is to take down the other team without losing anyone. Any questions?" When no one raised his or her hand, Sakura nodded. "Good. Then let's begin." The groups split up into two groups each, with one group from both sides going to the sidelines. The two groups then charged at each other…

|With Sasuke and Neko|  
"Alright brats!" yelled Sasuke, "If you were with me or Heiwa, get on the left side, and then split into two groups of ten. If you were with Neko or Iyashi, go on the right side and split into two groups of ten. Then, you one group of ten from each side will fight each other. Your goal is to knock out the other team without losing anyone from your team. Are there any questions? No. Good. Let's get started!"

"Hakai-san," said Neko, "Wasn't that a little too rough?"

"Probably," replied Sasuke, "But I don't give a damn. If I'm going to prepare them for the battle, I'm going to prepare them for the wolves. Is there a problem with that, Neko?"

"No, just curious. Carry on."

|Day of the Chūnin exams|

"Welcome," said Sarutobi, "To the Chūnin exams! This is the final stage in the decision whether these fine men and women become Chūnin. Now, I'll hand the directions to our find proctor, Genma."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama. Now the rules are similar. You may use whatever means to defeat your enemy. However, I reserve the right to call the match at any time. The first match is Naruto vs. Neji. All other genin, please go to the competitor's box." All the genin left, with Shikamaru sparing a glance at Naruto, before turning away.

"You will lose, loser," said Neji. "Once a loser, always a loser."

"Don't go that far," said Naruto.

"Let the match between Neji and Naruto begin!" Naruto charged at Neji. Meanwhile, in the forest surrounding Konoha, the real Naruto and his team started moving, patrolling the forest, searching for enemy ninja. After about five minutes, Naruto and his team ran into three elite Suna shinobi.

"Konoha-scum. You will die."

"We'll see about that," said one of the Jounin with Naruto. The Jounin drew his sword and charged with Naruto at the group of Suna Shinobi.

**A/N**

**So here is the next chapter. Sorry it's not as long as my other ones, but I couldn't find a way to make it longer.**


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Naruto. Thanks to MechenManachewagan's story Team San'en for inspiration for this story

_Last Time_

"_Let the match between Neji and Naruto begin!" Naruto charged at Neji. Meanwhile, in the forest surrounding Konoha, the real Naruto and his team started moving, patrolling the forest, searching for enemy ninja. After about five minutes, Naruto and his team ran into three elite Suna shinobi._

"_Konoha-scum. You will die."_

"_We'll see about that," said one of the Jounin with Naruto. The Jounin drew his sword and charged with Naruto at the group of Suna Shinobi._

Story Start

Naruto and Neji clashed, with Neji trying to hit the Tenketsu points on Naruto's body, but couldn't because of the way he moved.

"What the hell are you doing?" yelled Neji. "How come I can't hit you?"

"Maybe," said Naruto, "It's because you're not as good as you've lead yourself to believe. But I believe that it is more thanks to the Taijutsu style that I am using."

"And what style is that?" growled Neji.

"The drunken fist style, a very unpredictable one, and perfect for the most unpredictable ninja in Konoha's ranks."

"Then I guess I'll have to be the first to read that style," said Neji, charging and shooting a palm out at Naruto. Like before, Naruto twisted his body to dodge, and then twisted back into position, while at the same time, elbowing Neji in the face.

"Come on Neji," said Naruto, "I thought you were better than this. Fire Style: Jet Flames!" Naruto shot out a thin, but highly concentrated beam of fire at Neji.

"Damn, Eight Trigrams: Revolving Heaven!" yelled Neji, spinning and creating a dome of chakra, which redirected the flames at Naruto.

"Water Style: Water Wall!" cried Naruto, jumping back. "Wind Style: Wind Scythe!" Naruto slashed his hand at Neji, sending waves of wind at Neji.

"Earth Style: Earth Wall!" yelled Neji, surprising Naruto and Hyuuga clan. "Surprised, aren't you?" asked Neji.

"Yes, but not as much as you think. When did you learn that, because I'm sure your clan elders wouldn't allow you to learn an elemental jutsu."

"You are correct. But, I knew that if I was to beat you, I couldn't just rely on Taijutsu, I had to expand!"

"Good. Now show me what you've got!"

"Earth Style: Rock Fist Jutsu!" yelled Neji, his arm encased in a thin layer of rock. Neji jumped towards Naruto, slamming his fist on the ground, creating many rocks to come out of the ground. Neji punched them all at Naruto, who was in the air.

"Shadow clone jutsu!" said Naruto, creating a clone to throw him out of the rock's way.

"Water Style: Water Flow Jutsu!" Naruto spat a vast amount of water that rushed towards Neji.

"Earth Style: Mud Indulgence!" cried Neji. He too spat a bunch of mud towards Naruto.

"Fire Style: Great Fire storm jutsu!" Naruto summoned a huge amount of fire in his hands and put them together, shooting it towards the mud and water, hardening the mud, and evaporating the water. "Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!" Naruto blew out a gust of wind that sent Neji flying. Naruto shot forwards, grabbing Neji by his neck.

"You lose," whispered Neji. Naruto looked at his feet and saw a paper bomb. Naruto let go of Neji, and jumped away. Neji just walked forward, the paper bomb disappearing like an illusion.

"Genjutsu, huh?"

"Yes, and now you are within my field of divination. Eight Trigrams: 64 palms!" Neji rushed at Naruto and started hitting the Tenketsu points accurately, as Naruto didn't have time to start using the unpredictability of the Drunken Fist. Naruto flew backwards, rolling until he flipped onto his feet.

"Yes! A worth challenge! Someone, who like Sasuke can give me a challenge!" laughed Naruto. Naruto drew his Nodachi and charged at Sasuke, slashing with wild, but calculated swings. Neji was forced to dodge and jump away, with Naruto following closely. Soon, Neji and Naruto landed 5 meters away from each other, both breathing heavily.

"We can't keep this up much longer. What say you, and we end this in one final attack?"

"You're on," said Neji. "Gentle Fist: Cutting Palm!"

"One Sword Style: Flash Slash!" Naruto disappeared and reappeared behind Neji, sheathing his blade into the sheath on his back, finishing with a click. Neji's body spurted many small bursts of blood.

"You're good," said Neji, falling to his knee. Naruto also collapsed to his knees as well, as blood spurted from his shoulder as well as from his stomach.

"You too. If I hadn't used my chakra as protection, I would be unconscious right now," muttered Naruto, before Neji fell unconscious.

"Winner: Naruto!" cried out Genma. There was a brief silence, before the crowd erupted into cheers. 'That Naruto kid really is something else. I can't wait to see what he achieves.' Little did Genma know, but Naruto had already achieved the unthinkable.

|With the real Naruto|  
"One Sword Style: Demon Slash," whispered Naruto, as he imbued his sword with the chakra of Kyuubi. As he slashed, the Suna Jounin tried to block with his sword, but Naruto's Nodachi just sliced clean through the sword and through the body of the Jounin.

"Wind Style: Wind Blade," said the other Suna Jounin, rushing at the Jounin beside Naruto.

"Leaf Sword Style: Dance of the Crescent Moon." Three copies of the ninja appeared, and the Suna Jounin managed to slice them all down, all but the real one. The Jounin sliced the head of the enemy off. The team that Naruto had helped turned to Naruto.

"Thank you, Heiwa-san," said the Jounin.

"No problem. Continue with the patrol." Naruto jumped into the trees, and continued with his patrol, looking for any problems.

"Come in, Heiwa," said a voice in his ear.

"Heiwa here," replied Naruto. "What is that you need, Iyashi?"

"We found the bodies of the three Oto shinobi from the Chūnin exams. What could this mean?" Naruto paused in thought, before a thought came to him.

"Iyashi, what is the requirements for the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu?"

"The DNA of the one who is being reincarnated and a life in exchange," whispered Sakura, before trailing off. "You don't think that Orochimaru used that jutsu, do you?"

"It's just a hunch, but I wouldn't put it past him. We're going to have to be careful. Send this information to Raido. He will tell Hokage-sama."

"Got it, Heiwa. Also, inform Hakai," said Iyashi.

"No need," said Hakai, cutting into the conversation. "I already overheard and sent the information to Raido. He will take of things. Let's continue the patrol and report anything out of the norm." Naruto landed in a tree overlooking a clearing where there were Suna and Oto ninja channeling their chakra into a summoning seal.

"Like, say, a summoning seal, with ninja pouring their chakra into it?" asked Naruto.

"Yes," replied Hakai. "Can you handle it?"

"Of course, who do you think I am, Kiba?"

"Of course not. Hakai, out."

"Iyashi, out."

"Heiwa, out." Naruto looked at the ninja. Naruto put his hand to the headset, switching the main frequency. "Zane, come in."

"Zane, here, captain. How can I be of assistance?"

"What team is closest to my position?" asked Naruto.

"Well, according to the chakra signatures, I would say, the team that consists of Tenten, Izumo, and Shizune."

"Thank you. Tell them to head in my direction." After about five minutes, a team arrived near Naruto.

"Heiwa-san, how can we be of assistance?" asked Shizune.

"We need to take out the group of ninja in front of us. Normally, I would do this on my own, but I can sense three other groups, and I won't be able to take them all out quickly enough on my own. Shizune, can you and Izumo take out this group by yourselves, while Tenten and I take out the group ten meters from here? We will regroup 20 meters from here, where the final group is located."

"Of course we can," replied Shizune.

"Then we will go. Come, let's go, Tenten." Naruto and Tenten leaped away, landing in a tree nearby. "Tenten, I will provide some cover fire. Get in there, and take out as many of those bastards as you can, got it?"

"Yes, sir," said Tenten, drawing her katana.

"Ice Style: Frozen Ravens!" Naruto slashed with his hand towards the ninja, who were so deep in concentration, they didn't notice the birds approaching. Tenten leaped over and disemboweled the ones who were not killed by Naruto's attack.

"It is done, Heiwa. Good. Come, let's move." Naruto and Tenten continued on after Naruto checked to make sure that the seal array was inactive. Naruto landed near the last summoning seal array. But this one was much larger, and had guards for each summoner. Shizune and Izumo landed in a tree next to Naruto and Tenten's tree.

"So, how are we doing this?" asked Shizune.

"We hit them fast and hard. Shizune, how accurate are you with a Senbon?"

"Very."

"Could you, simultaneously, hit each of the guards with Senbon that will induce a fake death?"

"…Yes. I can do that."

"Good. Izumo, you and Shizune will take the ones closest to us, after Shizune has done her thing. Tenten and I will take the ones farthest. No mistakes."

"Understood, Heiwa-san."

"Go!" Shizune drew thirty Senbon, and threw them, with barely a millisecond between each throw, knocking out each guard. Naruto and Tenten leaped towards ninja on the far side of the clearing, and started slicing their heads off. Once everything was done, Naruto checked to make sure the seal was inactive, as he had with the last one. "Good. Everything checks. Continue with your patrol." Naruto leaped into the trees and traveled south, while Shizune and her team continued in the direction they were headed.

|At the Chūnin arena|

"Will Sasuke and Gaara please come down?"

"Finally," muttered Sasuke, as he disappeared in a plume of fire and reappeared in the arena. The same could be said about Gaara, only sand was used instead of fire.

"Mother will feed on your blood," whispered Gaara.

"I don't think so," said Sasuke, taking up the interceptor stance and activating his Sharingan.

"Let the match begin!" Sasuke shot forward, and was about to hit Gaara in the face, when he disappeared and reappeared behind Gaara, before delivering a hit to the back of his head. Gaara turned around, sending the sand after Sasuke, who disappeared again, and dealt a kick to Gaara's side.

"Fire Style: Exothermic Reaction ball!" Sasuke fired a ball of energy at Gaara, who blocked with his sand. When the ball of energy did nothing, the sand dropped, as the ball fell to the ground and rolled towards Gaara. "Hmph," said Sasuke as he formed a seal of confrontation, "Boom." The ball of energy beneath Gaara exploded, sending Gaara flying into the air. Sasuke jumped towards Gaara. "Lightning Style: Lightning Trail." Trails of lightning extended from all parts of Sasuke's body. Sasuke jumped off of a shadow clone and above Gaara. Sasuke slammed both his fists onto Gaara's stomach before his sand shield could activate. Sasuke continued to send lightning enhanced punches into Gaara's stomach before he pushed his hands to Gaara's stomach and let loose a burst of chakra, sending Gaara into the ground. Smoke arose from where Gaara was, as Sasuke landed a few feet away. Suddenly, Sand shot out of the smoke, forcing Sasuke to dodge.

"Sand Shruiken!" yelled Gaara. All around the stadium, Shruiken made of sand arose form the ground, before flying at Sasuke.

"Plasma Barrier!" shouted Sasuke, slamming his hands together; creating a barrier that destroyed every single shruiken. Suddenly a sphere of sand started to form around Gaara. "What is going on?" asked Sasuke. "Lightning Style: Discharge Shot!" Sasuke punched at Gaara, sending a barrage of lighting at the sphere. Nothing happened to the sphere.

"I guess I'll have to go with 'that'," muttered Sasuke. Sasuke leaped onto the wall, and formed three hand seals. "Chidori!" Sasuke then raced down the wall and towards the sphere, before stabbing it. Sasuke dodged the spikes that emerged, and ripped his hand back, seeing Gaara touch the blood on him.

"What is this warm liquid?" asked Gaara. "BLOOD. THIS IS MY BLOOD!" Suddenly a tail whipped at Sasuke. Sasuke jumped back, before the sphere collapsed. Suddenly, feathers started to float down. Genma and Sasuke both realized what was happening and canceled the Genjutsu. Temari and Kankuro landed in the arena grabbed Gaara and ran. Sasuke made to go after them, but Baki, the Suna team's sensei threw a kunai at Sasuke. But Sasuke didn't need to worry as Genma threw a Senbon to intercept the kunai.

"Sasuke, you are charged with the mission to take down Gaara. Go!" yelled Genma. Sasuke nodded and left. Genma turned to Baki. "Now, it seems that you are the one who killed my friend Hayate. Allow me to repay you in his place." Genma charged, summoning a katana and attacking.

|With the real Sasuke|

Sasuke's eyes widened as his clone summoned a clone that dispersed. HE activated his COM.

"Iyashi, Heiwa, the Chūnin exams are over. My clone is in pursuit of Gaara and his siblings, while Heiwa, your clone is following me. Shikamaru stayed behind to take care of unfinished business with Oto ninja. Shino is dealing with Kankuro, and Yugito with us."

"She is?" asked Naruto.

"Yes. It seems your clone and her became very close over the month long break."

"Hm. Interesting. Well, which way is Gaara headed?" asked Naruto.

"Your direction," said Sasuke.

"Very well. I will take care of him. Stop our clones and the other genin, got it?"

"Yes, sir. It will be done." Sasuke ended the transmission, and headed towards the genin. "Genin," sad Sasuke, catching both clones' attention, as well as the attention of Yugito, "You are not to go past this point. ANBU are already taking care of Gaara, the enemy jinchūriki. And may I know why Kumo is helping Konoha?"

"Repentance," said Yugito, "For the crimes that occurred during the Hyuuga incident."

"Very well, but you are to go back to Konoha and help defend the village. ANBU and our regular ninja teams will handle everything out here. Now go!"

|With Naruto|  
Naruto sensed all the genin leave, and the siblings of Gaara land nearby. Naruto looked at the growling threat that stood in front of him.

"So you're Gaara?" asked Naruto, in mock surprise. "You're shorter than I thought."

"Blood. Mother will feed on your blood."

"Now that's not very nice," said Naruto, before appearing below Gaara, and delivering an uppercut kick. "You shouldn't only rely on your bijuu for power."

"What do you know?" yelled Gaara, as he willed his sand to form around him. "I will show you the might of the Shukaku. I will show you what it means to face a bijuu." Gaara continued to grow until he was a massive, four legged titan.

"So this is what you resort to when facing a greater opponent? Becoming the Shukaku?"

"Feigning Sleep Jutsu!" yelled Gaara. Suddenly the eyes of the Shukaku went from a pale yellow to a bright yellow, as the spun.

"I'm free!" yelled the Shukaku. "Finally, I can fight on my own."

"Looks like I have no choice. Sorry, Gaara, but this is for your own good." Naruto jumped into the air, and started making seals. Finally, after about a minute of writing, Naruto finished the seal. "Sealing Style: Iron Seal!" Naruto pushed the seal into the stomach of the Shukaku, making the sand recede.

"NO! I just got up!" yelled the Shukaku, before the sand receded and Gaara fell to the ground, with the kanji for Iron written on the right side of his forehead in red.

"Gaara," said Naruto. "You are lonely, aren't you?"

"How did you-?" asked Gaara.

"Because, I'm like you. I too, am a jinchūriki. This village also ostracized me. But I gained special people who made life worth living. Remember, it is not fear that will give you companions, but friendship and bonds. Even as Jinchūriki, we can achieve those things."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Now call back the Suna army. And join us in destroying Oto."

"I would be honored," said Gaara. Kankuro and Temari landed behind Gaara, glaring at Naruto, ready to battle. "Enough," said Gaara.

"Gaara?" asked Kankuro.

"This battle is over, and we have lost. Let us retreat." Naruto smiled, and disappeared into the trees.

"All teams, check in," said Naruto.

"Team 1, checking in."

"Team 2, checking."

"Team 3, checking in." This continued for all 20 teams that were under Naruto's command.

"All teams, return to Konoha. This battle is over. We are victorious!" A loud cheer could be heard throughout the forest of Konoha. They had successfully defended their homes against an invasion.

|3 days later|

"Old man," said Naruto, in civilian wear, as he sat next to Sarutobi's bedside. The Hokage had been seriously injured in his battle against Orochimaru, and there was nothing that the medics could do, not even Tsunade.

"Naruto, it is okay. With each new generation, the old generation must leave to make room."

"But it isn't your time yet!" cried Naruto.

"It is, now," whispered Hiruzen. "Naruto, I want to give you something. You are ready for your full inheritance. You performed admirably. Go to the picture of the fourth and take it down. Behind there, there is a safe. Wipe your blood on it, and it will reveal your inheritance."

"Save your breath, Old man," said Naruto, frightened by what was happening.

"It's okay Naruto. I am dying. I would also like you to hold on to the monkey-summoning scroll. Please, have Konohamaru sign it when he becomes a genin."

"I will. But you have to be there," said Naruto, tears coming down. "I promised you I'd take the hat from you, and become the fifth, not the sixth."

"Come now, Naruto, don't be like that. Everyone dies. It is the cycle of rebirth. What is our nindo?"

"Blood freely given, so others may live," said Naruto, sniffling.

"Yes. Now you understand, why I must die."

"Yeah, Old Man. Please watch over us when you leave," said Naruto.

"I will," said Sarutobi.

"Thanks, Old Man," said Naruto. Naruto noticed that the line wasn't making any periods. "Goodbye," said Naruto. Naruto walked out of the room, and saw a nurse.

"Nurse-san," said Naruto.

"Yes, Naruto?" asked the Nurse.

"Hokage-sama is dead. He passed just a minute ago." The nurse's eyes widened, before nodding. She left to go find the doctors. Naruto left the hospital and got into his ANBU garb, before going to the Hokage's office, where his team was.

"Heiwa, nice of you to join us," said Tsunade. "Where have you been?"

"With Hokage-sama, as he passed," said Naruto.

"You mean-?" asked Tsunade.

"Yes. Hokage-sama is gone." Tsunade bowed her head in silence, before looking at the three of them.

"I order you to remove your masks, so that I may know who you are."

"Koharu-san, Homura-san, do we have permission?"

"Yes. She will be the new Hokage." Naruto nodded and removed his mask, as did Sakura and Sasuke.

"Naruto? Sasuke? Sakura? You are Team Ryū?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," said Naruto. "Do you have a mission for us?"

"No. But since you are Team Ryū, I would like you to come to the council with me, as the ambassador for Sand is here. We are going to war with Oto and their ally, Kusa."

"Sarutobi-sama informed us that this might happen," said Naruto, as he and his team stood, putting his mask back on. Tsunade and her advisor stood, as Naruto and his team followed. When they entered the council room, the council looked at the ANBU squad in confusion.

"This council sessions shall begin," said Tsunade, slamming her fist on the table.

"Hokage-sama,' said Kotaku, one of the civilians, "why are there ANBU here?"

"Ah, yes. This is Team Ryū. They are here to make sure that these negotiations don't go awry."

"Ah, I see," said the civilian. Meanwhile, the ambassador was shaking in fear. Team Ryū was in the room? Crap.

"Now then," said Tsunade, "Why should we trust you? Why should we keep our alliance with you when you attacked us?"

"Hokage-sama," said the ambassador, "Our attack on you was a manipulation. Orochimaru manipulated us into attacking you. A few days before I arrived here, we found evidence that the Yondaime Kazekage has been dead for at least five months, which is when this plan went into action. The Kazekage was found buried in the desert near the border of Kawa no Kuni (Land of Rivers)."

"I see. So you mean to say that no one spoke out against this plan?"

"My brother did. He acted out while I was away negotiating with Tetsu no Kuni for supplies. And because of that, my brother was killed. Anyone who spoke out was killed, whether they were a child, mother, advisor, council member, or ninja. No one was safe. We had no choice but to accept the Kazekage's plan."

"I see. Do you regret it?" asked Tsunade.

"I have since the beginning," replied the ambassador.

"Very well. Please leave the room so that we may discuss this." Once the ambassador had left, the room exploded. Well, at least on the civilian side.

"Kill him now!"

"Show Suna we mean business!"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Tsunade after a minute of yelling. "I will not kill him. Shikaku, what do you think?"

"ANBU, was he telling the truth?" asked Shikaku.

"Every word," said Naruto.

"Then we continue our alliance with Suna."

"Inoichi, Hiashi, Tsume, Choza, what do you say?"

"Aye, we continue," said Tsume.

"Agreed," said Inoichi, Hiashi, and Choza.

"Very well. ANBU, what do you think."

"Let us flourish with this renewed alliance," said Sasuke. Neither Naruto or Sakura spoke.

"Very well. Bring him in!" The ambassador entered the room. "Ambassador of Suna, we of Konoha, has decided to allow this alliance to stay. But if you ever attack us again, we **will **crush you. Understand?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Thank you."

"No need for thanks. Now leave. We have much to do if we are to prepare for the war against Oto and Kusa."

"Hokage-sama, it isn't just those two anymore. Taki, has joined, and they have a jinchūriki as well."

"I see. Thank you for this information. You may go now."

"Hokage-sama, do we have an alliance with Kumo?"

"Now we do. Raikage-san and I signed on it yesterday. They will aid us in the upcoming war."

"I see. That is good, as they have two jinchūriki."

"Who?" asked Tsunade.

"The genin, Yugito Nii, and the brother of the Raikage, Killer Bee."

"I see. Well, that is good information, but inconsequential, as we are allies. Now go. You have the rest of the day off."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," said Naruto, as he and his team disappeared. The three changed into civilian wear and decided to go out for a walk. As they were walking, Naruto saw Ichiraku's.

"Want to eat there?" asked Sakura. Naruto smiled at Sakura. "Fine. Let's go eat."

"Hey old man," said Naruto, "One Uzumaki Special!" Teuchi turned and saw Naruto and his team.

"Well if it isn't Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura. Very well, one Uzumaki Special. And you three?"

"One Miso Pork ramen, please," said Sasuke.

"One miso beef ramen," said Sakura. Soon, the three were digging in.

"One miso ramen, miso pork, miso beef, and miso shrimp!" Naruto turned to see Kiba, Hinata, Shino, and Kurenai entering the stand and sitting down.

"Hey Kiba, how are you?" asked Naruto.

"I'm doing good. Do you know where you have been assigned?" asked Kiba.

"Assigned?" asked Naruto.

"Yeah. We are supposed to be assigned to an outpost. We have been assigned to Hi Yari (Fire Spear). And you?"

"We haven't been assigned yet. Kakashi-sensei gave us the day off. Did anyone of our age group get promoted?"

"No one knows. Oh, and Hokage-sama died today, Naruto. I thought I would let you know, considering how close you two were," said Kiba.

"I know, Kiba. I was with him, when he passed," replied Naruto, digging back into his ramen. Naruto then paid for the ramen, as well as Sakura and Sasuke's ramen, before leaving. Naruto went to the Hokage's office, where Tsunade was.

"Yes, Naruto?"

"I'm just getting my inheritance. The Sandaime told me where to find it," said Naruto. Naruto went over to the picture of the Yondaime and removed it. He then bit his finger and wiped it on the safe, opening it. Within the safe were two small scrolls. Naruto picked them both up and put it in his ninja pouch, which was with Naruto at all times. Behind it, was a picture, a picture of the Yondaime and a red-haired woman who was pregnant.

"Baa-chan," said Naruto, "Is the Yondaime my father?"

"Yes," replied Tsunade, despite her eyebrow twitching along with the urge to sock Naruto in the head. "And your mother was named Kushina Uzumaki, or the Red Death of Konoha. I'm sorry we had to keep this from you. But the Nodachi you carry was her pride and joy. She loved the blade as much as she loved your father." Naruto smiled.

"Thank you, Baa-chan. I'll see you later." Naruto exited Hokage tower happy. He looked to the sky. 'Would you be proud, Tou-san?'


	6. Chapter 6

|ANBU HQ|

"Alright, listen up," yelled Naruto to the rest of the Team Ryū who were gathered at the meeting room at about 1:00 in the afternoon. "We have been ordered by Hokage-sama to go assist some genin that have got into some trouble. Coincidentally, these genin are the genin of team 10. They had been given the mission of helping out in wave country, but even though Gato is gone from there, there are still missing nin and bandits there. There is the A-rank missing nin, Akahoshi, who escaped being killed during the Star village incident, as well as the B-ranked missing-nin, Gozu and Meizu, the Demon brothers, who never got taken into custody."

"Our objective?" asked Sasuke.

"Clean up the mess in Wave, kill every last single bandit and missing-nin there, and bring Team 10 home without any casualties. It will only be Team Ryū this time, no other ANBU or genin will be coming along for the mission. Pack your things. We leave in 10 minutes." Naruto entered his quarters and started grabbing everything he needed, and sealing it into different scrolls. Instant Ramen, rice balls, kunai, exploding tags, sealing equipment, smoke bombs, ninja wire, shruiken, water, and healing supplies were among the materials that Naruto grabbed for the mission and sealed into scrolls. Naruto walked out of his room, putting on his mask to conceal his identity along with the cloak that he had received and his Nodachi. Naruto arrived at the gate, to see the Hokage.

"Hokage-sama," said Naruto, kneeling.

"Rise, Heiwa," said Tsunade.

"Hokage-sama, how may I be of assistance?"

"On this mission, I would like you to see if Shikamaru Naara has what it takes to be a Chūnin. He has been nominated, but I would like your input."

"Yes, Hokage-sama. Do I have permission to let Hakai and Iyashi in on this?"

"Of course. I expect a good report on his qualification, understood?"

"As you wish, Hokage-sama." Tsunade turned and left, passing Sasuke and Sakura.

"What did Hokage-sama need?" asked Sakura.

"We are to evaluate Genin Shikamaru Naara and determine whether he is good enough to be a Chūnin. All three of us are to evaluate him and determine whether he should be promoted. Now, is everyone ready?"

"Let's go," said Sasuke.

"Hakai, stop going on without waiting for the rest of us!" yelled Iyashi, going up to Hakai, and smacking the back of his head, with Heiwa right behind her.

"Yeah, Hakai. I was asking if you were ready. I didn't ask for a physical response, I asked for a verbal one. Sheesh," said Naruto as the three jumped into the tree and made the journey towards wave country. As they neared Wave country, the three began to run into a great deal of bandits. Tediously, but accurately, the three began hunting down every single bandit. Most were easy enough to kill with a single kunai to the neck, but some were more skilled and they had to resort to using Taijutsu to put them down. After piling them up, and burning the bodies, Naruto and co headed towards the bridge.

"The Bridge of Hope, inspired by Team 8 of Konoha," read Sakura.

"So Kiba isn't useless after all," muttered Naruto as the three walked onto the bridge. Suddenly, there was a contingent of Wave Samurai, but Naruto spotted one, the leader, with the emblem that each of them had on their own left shoulder guard.

"Who are you?" demanded the lead samurai. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke shifted their cloaks so that the shoulder guards could be seen.

"Does this tell you who we are?" asked Naruto.

"Hakai-dono, Heiwa-dono, Iyashi-dono, forgive me for my impudence," said the samurai, getting on his knee.

"Please, rise. We aren't Musashi-sensei. Please treat us like any other samurai or ninja. But we are here to aid the Konoha team that is here."

"I see. We have been trying to keep the bandits at bay. They just keep coming and coming. They aren't skilled, but what the lack in skill, the make up for in numbers. They numbered in the thousands at last count."

"Well, I believe that we took care of that problem. On our way here, we killed at least a thousand bandits, if not more," said Sasuke.

"Thank you, Hakai-dono," said the lead samurai.

"Now, can we pass?" asked Iyashi, impatiently.

"Of course, Iyashi-dono. Please go on," said the lead samurai, getting out of their way, so that the three ninja could continue. Naruto nodded his thanks before rushing towards the edge of the bridge. As they neared, the three saw Asuma, and his team in defensive position.

"Who the hell are you?" yelled Ino, before she recognized the three ninja before her. "Hakai, Heiwa, Iyashi."

"Why do they always say my name second?" grumbled Naruto.

"Because I'm so much better," whispered Sasuke.

"Tch, as if," replied Naruto.

"Thank you for coming. Did Hokage-sama send you?" asked Asuma.

"Yes," said Naruto, handing the assignment scroll to Asuma.

"Hm. Well, you three must be really good to be in ANBU at your age," commented Asuma.

"What do you mean?" asked Choji.

"Choji, those three look to be about your height, don't they?"

"Well, yes. But couldn't it be that they are just really short adults?"

"It could, but there aren't many adults who are that short. The only person I can think of is Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage. He is shorter than any of these three. But it isn't just that, the tones of their voices also indicate that they are very young. They are probably your age."

"What?" asked Ino, "They are our age? Is that true?"

"It is, Ino-san. Now, I believe we should go in," said Sasuke.

"Yes. We need to discuss our plan of action," said Asuma. The three ANBU were lead to the house of a bridge builder, name Tazuna. Coincidentally, he was also the builder of the bridge that led from the mainland to Wave Country.

"So, what do we know?" asked Naruto, looking at a map that Asuma had set up.

"Well," said Asuma, pointing to a red marker, "This is one of three bases. The three are set up so that if we attack one, the other two can attack the village and we won't be able to get there in time."

"I see. Shikamaru!" called Naruto.

"Yes, Heiwa-san?"

"Please tell me what you would do to solve our current situation."

"But-" protested Asuma, before Heiwa stopped him by holding out his hand.

"Well, since we have three ANBU, a Jounin, and three genin, the first thing I would do is send one genin with on ANBU to attack each of the bases. The other thing that I would do is have Asuma-sensei stand on guard in the village, to make sure that none of the bandits are able to kill any villagers in case any get past the genin and the ANBU.

"And if I told you that there was one of us who could make at least 45 solid clones that can take only about 2 or 3 good hits before they dispel?"

"Then I would have 30 patrol the outskirts of the village, while each team takes five clones with them," finished Shikamaru. Heiwa looked at Asuma, who was thinking hard.

"Good plan, no?" asked Heiwa.

"It is. I can't find any holes in it. I believe the most ideal team is for you to team up with Shikamaru, Hakai to team up with Ino, and for Iyashi to team up with Choji. Who is it that can make 45 solid clones?"

"I agree with those teams. And the person who can make the clones is I. We will initiate the attack tomorrow at sunrise. Let's get a good night sleep." Naruto stood up and walked outside where Iyashi was helping Choji learn how to channel chakra into his hands.

"Team," said Naruto. Everyone turned to look at him. "Tomorrow at sunrise we will be initiating the attack on each base. It will be a team of one ANBU, one genin, and five of my solid clones, which will be using the transformation jutsu to look like someone else. 30 genin will stay in the outskirts of the village to get any bandits or missing-nin that get through the ANBU or genin. Asuma will also be staying in the village. The teams are Shikamaru and I, Iyashi and Choji, and Hakai and Ino. Any questions?"

"Why this set up?" asked Hakai.

"Because your partner will make up for the skill you lack or help compliment your skill set. For example, Ino knows more than just the basic healing jutsu, which is the only healing jutsu you and I know. Shikamaru can capture enemies so I can decapitate them. And Choji will help give Iyashi a boost in destructive power. Anything else?"

"No," replied Hakai.

"Well," said Asuma, "If there are no other problems, after we eat dinner, everyone hits the sack. We need to be on top of our game tomorrow so that we can win these upcoming battles." As the three genin and Asuma went in, Hakai stepped forward and whispered into Heiwa's ear.

"You also want Shika on your team so you can evaluate him, right?"

"That is just coincidence. It was actually Asuma who came up with the teams. I just believed that they would be the best ones after he suggested it."

"Okay," said Hakai. "Well, I'm going to get dinner. See you later." Hakai and Iyashi walked past Heiwa who walked over to a tree and placed his hand on it. He channeled his chakra into it, making the tree break into splinters.

"COOL!" yelled someone from behind him. Naruto turned around to see a boy that was around the age of 8.

"Can I help you, young one?" asked Naruto, kneeling down to look at the boy in the eye.

"Are you a ninja, mister?"

"Yes, I am, Mr.…"

"Inari. My name is Inari. What is yours?"

"I can't tell you my real name, but you can call me Heiwa."

"Why do you call yourself that?" asked Inari.

"Because that is what I fight for. You are Tazuna-san's grandson, correct?"

"Yes, I am. What village are you from?"

"Konoha."

"Oh, do you know Hinata-nee-chan?" asked Inari.

"Yes I do. She knows my true self and even stalked me when I was younger because she has a crush on me. So she gave you hope, did she?"

"Yeah. Does she know that it is you underneath that mask?"

"No, and she will never find out. Do you want to become ninja?"

"No. But I want to be able to protect my precious people because," said Inari.

"It is what makes you strong," finished Naruto. "Yes, that is one of the things that I did tell her as my real self. I'm glad that she has continued with that principle. Now, shouldn't you be going in for dinner?"

"Oh yeah. Mom told me to come and get you."

"Well, then," said Naruto, "Let's not disappoint her." Naruto walked into the house and sat down, before lifting up a section in his mask that allowed him to eat normally, while still keeping his mask on to hide his identity.

"How are you doing that?" asked Ino.

"Special mask," replied Naruto.

"How old are you?" asked Ino.

"Old enough to kill, drink, and fuck around," replied Sasuke.

"Why did you become an ANBU?"

"We didn't choose to. We were drafted by Sandaime Hokage-sama a few months ago," replied Sakura. "Now, no more questions."

"Yes, Iyashi," said Ino. The ninja continued eating in silence before going to bed. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura slept in the trees with their masks still on.

"So," said Sakura, "What do you think our chances of getting the genin out of this mission alive and not traumatized are?"

"Truthfully? 45%."

"That high?"

"Yes. You have to remember that two of them are from the group genin that we trained during the one-month gap during the Chūnin exams. They won't be as traumatized as say, Team 9. Now get to sleep. We have a big day ahead of us, Iyashi."

"Got it," replied Iyashi. However, as she was falling asleep, she saw an orange book in Naruto's ninja pouch. "Heiwa, you aren't reading Icha Icha again, are you?"

"I am. Keeps me sane like those crappy romance novels do for you. Besides Hakai does it too."

"…I'm not even going to answer that. Night."

"Night," replied Naruto, with a grin.

|Next Day|

"Alright, teams, let's begin this operation." The ANBU, Asuma, and Team 10 were all standing in the middle of the town, going over what needed to be done. A cloud of smoke went up, signaling the summoning of 45 shadow clones. "Alright, clones, 30 of you are to stay here, and 5 of you go with each team. Now, let's move out!" Naruto, five of his clones, and Shikamaru ran out of the town towards base A. Sasuke and his team to base C, while Sakura and her team went to base B. When Naruto and his team got there, he stopped.

"What is it, Heiwa-san?"

"Shikamaru-san, what would the best course of action be right now?"

"Hm," muttered Shikamaru, forming an oval shape with his hands and closing his eyes. "I would send in the clones to lure them out, and so that you can get a better sense of who is here and how many are here. Then, you and I would go in, while I stop many of the bandits, you would decapitate all of them. If there are any ninja, you will take care of them, while I continue on killing bandits. Any problems with that plan?"

"None at all. That is exactly what I came up with. I like you, Shikamaru. Clones, go!" The Naruto ANBU clones jumped down and used a fire jutsu to break down the wall. Suddenly bandits came pouring out and the clones started fighting through the sea of bandits before they were dispelled. Naruto closed his eyes as he processed the information.

"Alright, let's go, Heiwa-san," said Shikamaru.

"Yes, let's. Naruto jumped out of the trees, while weaving some hand seals. "Fire Style: Scarlet Rain Jutsu!" Droplets of fire appeared in the air, before they rained down upon the bandits, killing them instantly. Naruto landed on the ground, slamming his hands onto the ground. "Ice Style: Thorn Garden Jutsu!" Spiked vines shout of the ground, like the spiked vines of a rosebush, destroying most of the base, revealing all who were present.

"Shadow Style: Shadow Immobilization Jutsu!" yelled Shikamaru.

"Great job, Shikamaru. Wind Style: Wind Disc!" Naruto formed a blade of wind on his hand, before he hurled it, killing most of the bandits that were present, while Shikamaru killed a few more. However, there was still one more obstacle to overcome: a missing-nin. A huge hulking ninja, who carried an axe on his back slowly walked towards Naruto and Shikamaru, while grabbing his axe off his back.

"Are you punks ready to die?" asked the hulking ninja.

"No, not really," replied Naruto, "But I hope you are! Water Style: High Pressure Jutsu!" Naruto pointed at the hulking ninja with his fingers in a gun-like shape and fired a thin, high-pressured stream of water. The hulking ninja blocked it with the flat side of his war axe.

"Earth Style: Break Pressure!" yelled the missing-nin slamming his hands into the ground, causing massive fissures in the ground.

"Jump," yelled Naruto. Naruto jumped away and threw some kunai at the ninja. Shikamaru, meanwhile, dodged the cracks and used his shadow to bind the ninja.

"Heiwa, go!" yelled Shikamaru. Naruto appeared behind the rock ninja with his sword parallel to the ground.

"One Sword Style: Drawing Technique: Quick Slash," whispered Naruto, before sheathing his sword. As he sheathed his sword, the body of the missing-nin fell forward, the head rolling into one of the fissures. "Alright," said Naruto to Shikamaru, "let's continue with the mission." The two searched the base for anything of use and any bandits or ninja left. After finding scrolls, which contained account numbers and passwords, Naruto destroyed the entire base.

|Tazuna's house|

"Alright, was everyone successful?" asked Hakai.

"Hakai, I think we can assume that answer is yes, judging from the fact that everyone is here," retorted Iyashi.

"Calm down everyone," ordered Heiwa. "Now, Shikamaru and I were successful in killing all of the bandits as well as a missing-nin, who was a no name ninja. He was probably hoping to make it big with these bandits and take over wave. We also found account numbers along with their passwords, half of which I kept for Konoha, and half were given to Tazuna."

"The same goes for me, except there were no scrolls or anything. Just bandits," said Hakai.

"Same as Hakai," said Iyashi. "Nothing out of the unusual."

"I see. That is good then. Our mission is now complete. We head back to Konoha tomorrow. Good night," said Asuma. The three ANBU nodded and went outside to sleep, while Team 10 stayed inside to sleep. As they were sleeping, Asuma came out to look at them.

"Is there a reason you are watching my team, Asuma-san?" asked Naruto.

"No, not really. Just wondering who you really are…" trailed off Asuma.

"Careful, said the ANBU, "Continue that line of questioning and there may be some dire consequences. And I wouldn't want to deprive Konoha of its best wind user."

"I understand, sir. It won't happen again. But are you really the same age as my genin?"

"Indeed, we are the same age as your genin. In fact, we were in the same class during the academy. But we are still just as dangerous. Remember that."

"I see," said Asuma, before going back inside to bed.

|Next Day|

"Thank you very much!" yelled the citizens of wave. Team 10 waved back, while the ANBU and Asuma just watched for a little bit, before leaving with Team 10 tagging along behind them. As they walked, Shikamaru stared closely at the ANBU.

"Shikamaru-san, if you are going to stare at us to try and figure out who we are, then don't. Like Heiwa told your sensei, it could lead to dire consequences," said Hakai.

"Understood, Hakai." Sasuke smiled happily underneath his mask.

|3 days later|

"Welcome back, Team 10, Tem Ryū," said Tsunade.

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama," said Heiwa and Asuma.

"Team 10, you are dismissed," said Tsunade. Team 10 nodded their thanks, bowed, and left. "Alright, you may remove your masks," said Tsunade. Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura revealed their faces. "So, let's start with Shikamaru's promotion."

"Tsunade-sama, I believe that he should be promoted to Chūnin, but he needs to go through a training regimen that will increase his strength, both in physical strength and his justu capabilities. As of right now, the only jutsu that he knows are the traditional clan jutsu and the jutsu needed to graduate from the academy, but nothing else. He needs to be stronger if he is to be a Chūnin. But give him a choice."

"Why?" questioned Tsunade.

"Because he will say no and it will be easier for him to be a genin. If that is the case, threaten him with catching Tora and helping Iruka everyday he remains a genin."

"Alright," replied Tsunade. "Going on, were there any complications during the mission with missing-nin?"

"There was one who wielded a double-headed axe, but he was easily killed. He had no entry in the Bingo Book."

"I see. Then you are dismissed. Go interact with your peers to make them think you are on missions and training."

"Yes ma'am," said all three of the ANBU. The three of them appeared in their quarters at ANBU HQ before changing into their normal shinobi attire. Naruto walked to the Ichiraku ramen, where Naruto saw Team 8 eating.

"Hello, Kurenai-sensei, Kiba, Shino, Hinata," said Naruto as he walked in.

"Naruto, what are you doing here?" growled Kiba.

"Eating. Old Man, can I get the Uzumaki Special?" asked Naruto.

"Coming right up. Take a seat," replied Teuchi. Naruto sat down right next to Shino.

"Naruto-san, your chakra reserve has increased," said Shino.

"Uh, thanks?" asked Naruto, rubbing the back of his head. "So how has your training been?"

"Good. I believe that Kiba is almost at your level judging by the amount of chakra that you both have."

'Kiba, at my level? Ha. Shino wouldn't think that if he knew how many chakra suppression seals I have on.' "Thank you. Maybe now I'll get my ass handed to me, but I find that highly unlikely."

"What? Are you just so almighty?" growled Kiba.

"What makes you think that you are better than Kiba, if I may ask?" asked Kurenai.

"Do you think that Kiba has a chance at beating Sasuke, Kurenai-sensei?" asked Naruto.

"No. Kiba would probably lose against Sasuke. Kiba just doesn't have the strategy to beat Sasuke," replied Kurenai.

"I beat Sasuke every time we spar, Kurenai-sensei. If Kiba can't beat even Sasuke, then he probably couldn't beat me. But I would be happy to prove it."

"Then let's go right now!" yelled Kiba.

"Sorry, but I want to eat," said Naruto as Teuchi gave him his bowl of ramen. "After I finish, we can go fight. Just a second." Naruto started inhaling the ramen like there was no tomorrow, scaring everyone present except Teuchi. "Alright, let's go," said Naruto, tossing a few coins and bills on the table and leaving. Team 8 followed him. "So where do you want to do this?" asked Naruto.

"Let's go to Training ground 8," said Kurenai.

|Training Ground 8|

"This will be a match between Kiba Inuzuka and Naruto Uzumaki. Anything is allowed but killing moves. Winner will be determined by the first to be knocked out or submit. Begin!"

"Beast Clone Jutsu," yelled Kiba, after feeding Akamaru a soldier pill. A clone of Kiba appeared right next to him. "Fang over fang!" yelled Kiba. Two spinning cyclones rushed at Naruto.

"Wind Style: wind cyclone," said Naruto, spinning around. When Kiba and Akamaru hit the cyclone, they were spun in different direction, making them hit the trees. "Wind Style: Cutting Wind." Naruto slashed at both Kiba and Akamaru with his hands, sending blades of wind.

"Earth Style: Mud Wall!" yelled Kiba. A wall of mud rose up in front of him, protecting him from the wind.

"So you do use other jutsu," muttered Naruto. "Fire Style: Fire gun," said Naruto, aiming his pointing fingers at Kiba and Akamaru before shooting multiple shots of fire at them.

"Inuzuka Style: Elongated Claws!" yelled Kiba, striking at Naruto with his claws. Naruto grabbed one hand from both Kiba and Akamaru, halting their movement long enough, for him to jump up, and kick both of them in the stomach.

"Is this all you have?" asked Naruto, exasperated. He had expected Kiba to do better than this. He was even holding back more than usual.

"NO! Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!" The fireball hit Naruto straight on, but when the fire disappeared, Naruto was left without any injuries.

"It's time this fight came to an end." Naruto ran at Kiba at a moderate speed, and used both feet to kick Kiba in the stomach, knocking him out. Naruto growled at Kiba, who untransformed and ran to Kiba.

"Winner: Naruto Uzumaki."

"And that, Kurenai-sensei, is why I am stronger than Kiba."

"I see. Give my compliments to Kakashi for training you so well. I'll see you later," said Kurenai, as Naruto left the training field.

**A/N**

**So here's the next chapter. If you guys could, please give me some ideas on what to do for the next arc. I don't want to do the filler arcs, but with Sasuke not going over to Orochimaru due to the curse mark, I don't know what to do. Should I make Sasuke go there to be an inside spy? Tell me your thoughts.**


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